One's Way To Finding One's Self
by City-zen
Summary: Lettuce is feeling alone and used, when, one day, her life turns around completely... centering mainly on LxR couple. Will contain ZakuroxPai, PuddingxTart, MintoxAkasaka and IchigoxKish... Hope you like it, try it :D
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 – The Meeting

**Hi! So that's my new favourite couple... LettucexRyou. For my other story, I don't have a lot of hope, but we never know. As for this one, I don't have a title yet, so if you have any suggestions... And I'll try to update weekly (just in case, I said I would TRY, so again don't get your hopes up too much) Anyway, here it goes...**

XXX

Lettuce suddenly woke up with a start. She knew she had to go to school, but lately she dreaded that idea. Aya and her clique were enslaving her more and more. At first, she had thought that they just needed to vent their anger, anguish, sadness or whatever they had bottled up inside them, and that that task had fallen on her. However she was starting to see their real side. Last week, they had all gone, or more precisely been dragged in her case, to a new café that had opened near the outskirt of the city; Café Mew Mew. There, she met four dreamy people; two beautiful girls and two handsome boys. She had been ridiculed by her supposedly friends, but everyone had been kind enough and saved her.

XXX

_They finally arrived near the café. Lettuce was starting to get tired from having carried everyone's school bag. Yet, she didn't think about it anymore, when they started to see, just above the bushes, the shape of a pink dome. When they rounded the corner, a path, surrounded by roses, lead them to a small castle like building decorated with hearts of the same color; pink. It was quite flashy, but the effect on the girls was intense; they all had the impression of entering a fairytale. A magnificent garden, roses everywhere and a castle, Lettuce wouldn't have been surprised if a knight in shining armour had jumped right in front of her at that instant._

_Once lettuce opened the door, she was even more amazed than by the exterior of the building. There was a little bit too much pink to her liking, however she loved all the frills that adorned the place. All the tables were disposed so people could walk freely in between and have some privacy at the same time._

"_What are you doing, green pea? You're in the way, move aside.", said Aya with an air of superiority._

_Lettuce didn't react to the venomous insult and held the door for the girls to pass. When she entered the café she didn't look where she went and bumped into someone, thus making the said person drop the plate he held. Once she heard the crashing of porcelain and the clatter of the plate rolling on the floor, many 'sorrys' flew out of her mouth equally out of habitude and regret. With her head bent in shame and a blush creeping up her face, she didn't dare face the man with seeping tea on his shirt._

"_Ha! Ha! Ha! Looks like goofy green pea can't even walk through a door without causing a mess", mocked Aya." Next time try looking in front of you instead of the floor."_

"_Yeah, you're so clumsy, you'll never become worth of being our true friend", snorted Satsuki._

_At that, Lettuce looked up with sorrowful eyes. Unable to bear any of the girl's gaze, she faced her tea-attacked victim. He was taller than her, blond hair falling in front of his sky blue eyes with an annoyed look etched on his face. Thinking he was mad at her, Lettuce once again looked down with tears forming in her eyes._

"_Why don't you back off! You should be the ones ashamed. You can't even open a door yourself, and then complain instead of helping out.", said Lettuce's saviour while stepping in front of her._

"_Ryou, calm down. We wouldn't want our beautiful customers to get the wrong impression of us, now would we?", soothingly said a brown haired boy. "So now, _ladies_, why don't we seat you and offer you free pastries for having you suffered through such a traumatic accident?"_

_The girls were suddenly in their own fantasies, completely forgetting about the recent events, Lettuce or even how to think. So, when the brown haired waiter led them away, they didn't notice him wink surreptitiously at the younger one . Still unsure of what to do, Lettuce then decided that she had to try to repair what she did, so she bent down and started to pick the broken pieces of porcelain. She saw from the corner of her eye the man or grown teenager, she wasn't sure yet, Ryou, also start to clean._

"_You know, you don't have to do that. There are people here hired to especially do that", he softly remarked trying to lighten the mood._

"_Oh, no. I don't mind. It was my fault anyway."_

_She glanced at Ryou, and found his face inches of hers. She yelped in surprise, fell on her butt and cut herself at the same time._

XXX

Seeing she had a lot to do before going to school, she finally got up and hurried to do her morning routine. She didn't have time to daydream, her father being away on a business trip and her mother having already gone to drop off her brother, she was alone in her house. She changed into her school uniform quickly, swiftly prepared breakfast; a bread slice in the toaster with a glass of juice, and walked to school.

On her way, she met her Oh-so caring_ friends _who suddenly stopped talking and stared at her as if she had grown a second head. She decided to ignore them and picked up her pace. She had hoped to finally gain their trust and have real friends, yet they only wanted a scapegoat. If they couldn't face their problems, she couldn't help them. Anyway, she didn't have to concern herself about them today, she had something to look forward to.

'_Ryou, my prince_', she thought.

She pictured his face and the way he had been so kind to her the first time she had met him. She was mentally squealing with joy, after school, she would be able to see him again. He wasn't the only one she was looking forward to see either. The brown haired guy who had driven Aya and her gang away, Akasaka-san, she had learned later, Ichigo and Minto, the other waitresses, had all be so kind to her afterward. Knowing she may now have real friends gave her courage to go through her day.

XXX

Suddenly, she found herself once again in front of Café Mew Mew as if the few hours between this morning and this precise moment had just flown by in one second. However, every ounce of bravery that she had managed to gain had now disappeared leaving her in the uncertainty of what to do.

'_Should I knock or just enter? They're not open yet, maybe I'll just get in their way?'_

Still before she could do anything, Ichigo caught her in her fish-out-of-its-tank moment. She casted a brief "Hello!" before running past her and hurrying inside. She took that as a permission to enter, and shyly opened the door. She looked both sides to see no one was near the door and entered swiftly.

"Um... hello? Is anyone here? I-I'm Midorikawa Lettuce from last week", she slightly stuttered.

"Lettuce-chan! Hi, nice to see you again. Are you ready to start?", greeted Akasaka-san.

"Start? R-really? ... Don't you prefer to find someone more fit for this kind of job? I-I'm so clumsy! I'll just be in your way."

Minto chose this moment to enter and try to persuade Lettuce to stay.

"Don't worry Lettuce, you can't be worst than kitty back there!"

"WHAT! Minto, you're so mean! Anyway, you can't judge me, as I remember I'm the only one who works here. So why don't you try doing something before pulling me down?"

"Excuse-me? I'm too delicate to do rough tasks such as lifting heavy things like you do. I'm not Hulk with muscles popping everywhere.", calmly responded Mint.

"Are you saying I'm bulky? I'm a young delicate girl too, you know", said Ichigo pushing a table out of her way in anger.

"And _that_ proves my point. Continue like that, and one day you'll be able to lift a car by yourself."

At that, Ichigo had a fit and Akasaka-san had to step between the two to stop World War III. Minto, just stood there looking disabused while Ichigo tried to get to her through Akasaka-san who was trying to calm her down. Then, they heard a laugh ring through the room over the sound of their quarrel. They looked around, and found Lettuce giggling openly at them. Ryou chose this moment to enter and hesitated between the three on one side petrified and the girl on the other giggling to no end. However, when Lettuce spotted him, she stopped halfway, produced a sound between a nervous laugh and a strangled gulp, then became completely red.

"Lettuce, are you alright?", asked worriedly Ichigo unsure of what had happened.

"Y-yes, Ichigo-chan.", Lettuce whispered shyly.

"Lettuce, you don't need to be so formal, just call me Ichigo"

"And that goes for all of us", added Minto.

"How's your hand?", Ryou asked seeing as she became uncomfortable.

"Oh! Great, thanks to you, Shirogane-san.", replied Lettuce completely forgetting about Ichigo's and Mint's demand.

"Good"

And then he left without any further comment, making Lettuce wonder if she had angered him.

"Don't worry about him, he's not really a social person", Akasaka-san said after seeing her feeling bad about Ryou's sudden departure. "Anyway, now that you're here, we'll be able to open the café. So, girls, can you show her the way to the back? I hanged your uniform behind the door."

Then everyone was off their own way, Akasaka-san to the kitchen and the girls to the locker room. Once she took the time to look around, everything felt familiar to Lettuce as she remembered the few minutes she had spent there week before.

XXX

_After she had cut herself, Ryou had led her to the back where he could treat her and change his shirt at the same time. He made her seat in a cushioned pink chair and asked her to wait there for him. She looked around and saw that she was in the kitchen. It was quite large with a two door entrance leading to a corridor which then led to the café and an exit. The place smelled like fresh pastries, tea and chocolate. She felt so comfortable that she hadn't noticed at first the brown haired boy already in the kitchen. On the side, partially hidden by the fridge, was the brown haired guy from earlier. He seemed to be the cook since he was standing next to the oven concocting something. When he heard the closing of the door Ryou just went through, he moved to face Lettuce._

"_Hi, I'm Akasaka Keiichiro. Are you alright? Do you want something? I can prepare you whatever you want, or do you prefer a hot chocolate? It always soothes a broken soul.", he said thus certifying Lettuce's assumption as him being the chef._

"_Um, yes please, a hot chocolate will do.", she answered. Still, she was a tad uncomfortable; she was in a room, in a place she hadn't heard of before today, with an unknown person offering her something to drink. She tried to think of something to talk about before everything became too awkward when someone entered. It was a cute girl around Lettuce's height with red short hair and pink eyes. She was wearing a red uniform, matching her hair, with a white frilly apron and headband. She was holding a large plate in her hands to put her commands on, and she looked like she had to do many things at the same time, but couldn't divide herself to do them all._

"_Akasaka-san, there's an order for one cinnamon tea, one hot chocolate and two apple scones.", Ichigo ordered. _

"_I'm on it. Anyway I already had to whip up a hot chocolate", Akasaka-san winked at Lettuce who blushed at a such opened sign of closeness._

"_Hi! I'm Ichigo. I work here, but you must have noticed already since I'm wearing this so cute uniform, and I'm taking orders. Anyway, nice to meet you.", she said happily._

"_Hi, I'm Midorikawa Lettuce", she responded shyly._

"_Ichigo-chan, your order is ready.", interrupted Akasaka-san._

"_Thanks! Well I'm off, see you again Lettuce", Ichigo said making Lettuce blush at such familiarity._

_Ichigo got out almost bumping into Ryou on her way out._

"_Be careful Ichigo!", Ryo yelled after her. "So, how's the hand?"_

"_It's o-okay, just stings a little..."_

"_Well. We'll just put a band-aid just in case", _

_He cleaned the scratch, and gently put a band-aid on it. He was so concentrating on the task that she couldn't stop from staring at him with his bangs falling in front of his face. He had changed his black shirt to a clean white one. He looked just like prince charming, he just lacked the horse and the sword. Then, she suddenly realised why he had changed clothes. _

"_Um, you know? About the tea cup... how can I repay you? I don't have much money on me, but I can come back. I assure you, I'm not the type to run away with a debt and not come back. I..."_

"_Don't worry about it", Ryou said smirking._

"_B-b-but I want to repay you, it was my fault. I should also do something about your shirt."_

"_Lettuce-chan, if you want to repay us so much, you could come here and help out. How about Monday next week? It'll give us enough time to prepare your uniform.", Akasaka-san proposed._

"_Excuse-me. Akasaka-san, it's time for my cup of tea. Do you mind preparing it for me?", Minto asked politely._

"_Wow! You got up to get it yourself Minto? Anyway, it's already that time? How's Ichigo doing? She didn't chase all the clients away yet?", Ryou interjected while Akasaka-san prepared the tea._

_Minto, as Ryou had called her, was as pretty as Ichigo with smaller height with two buns on each side of her head. Also, her predominant color, compared to Ichigo, was blue._

"_Yes, I had to come myself, since Ichigo didn't want to take my order saying I'm not a client. But seeing how she's doing, I don't know how much longer she'll have someone to serve. Anyway, at least she's working. Hi, I'm Aizawa Minto. So I heard you'll work with us? I hope I'll see you again on Monday then"_

_She took her cup of tea, smiled slightly at Lettuce and went out to sit in the café and watch Ichigo overworking herself. Happy to see that she was accepted, Lettuce thought about the offer._

"_I don't mind", finally responded Lettuce looking at her hands. "But I'm not sure I'll be the best waitress, I'm quite clumsy."_

"_Lettuce-chan, we really want you here. I'm sure you'll be an asset to our group", Akasaka-san said glancing furtively at Ryo._

"_If it's about those girls earlier, don't worry they won't bother you here.", Ryou encouraged her._

XXX

After that, she had to accept the offer. Everyone was so kind and it also got her the chance to spent more with Ryou. She couldn't stop from thinking of him as Ryou. She blushed at her own mental audacity. Once she found her uniform, the same as Ichigo's and Minto's, but in green, she hastily put it on and went to the front door. On her way, she bumped into Ryou who caught her just in time before she fell on her butt once again.

"Are you alright?", he wondered.

"Y-yes", she responded shyly.

Then an awkward silence grew between the two of them. Both trying not to catch the eyes of the other.

"You-..."

"I-...", they both said at the same time.

"Um... go ahead", said Lettuce hastily.

"Oh, well. I was just going to say that the uniform suits you", Ryou complimented her.

"T-thank you", she stuttered and blushed even more. "Now, um... I should go now. They're going to open the café soon"

"Yeah", he said looking at her walking away.

Once she arrived at the front door, Ichigo, Mint and Akasaka-san were already there prepared to greet clients.

"Ready?", asked Ichigo. "We're opening now"

When they open the door, people were already waiting in line outside.

"Welcome to Café Mew Mew", they all greeted happily in unison.

XXX

**Okay, so I've updated once again my story. The changes are not so important that you have to reread I just thought some things could be arrange. Thanks for reading and don't be afraid to review :D**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – The Saving

**Ok. So this chapter should be the last one to place in context (place, characters, mood between Ryou and Lettuce...) It's a little bit more of a what you can see in other stories, but that's what came in mind, so bear with it :D**

XXX

She didn't know how she had found herself in this place, but she was starting to feel really uncomfortable. Having a half naked Ryou in front of wasn't helping her case neither. So she tried to remember how she had gotten herself in such a position.

XXX

"_Why? ... Why are they here? I didn't think it was that hard just to leave me alone..." silently muttered Lettuce while looking discreetly through the ajar door._

_Seated just in front of her hiding place were the trio of doom, as Mint had called them. The three girls who seemed to have taken such a liking to the café that, since Lettuce started to work there, that they also started to show up every day. At first, they just glared her way, as if she caused every torment on Earth or, in this case, their lives. But then everything turned out worst; it wasn't just hatred coming out from their pores. They would a mess on their table and, since they always especially asked for Lettuce, she had to clean everything up. Then, they would complain that she was too slow or that she didn't get their right order and other small things like that. The others, of course, knew what was going on; Mint could see everything from her perch, Ichigo was always only tables away, Akasaka-san bribed information out of Mint and Ryou just seemed to know everything that was going on in the café. So, someone always made a move to go help her when the trio would cause problem, however Lettuce would always stop them from a shake of the head or a movement of the hand, and face the three with a smile._

_Still, one day, they went too far. Other than the frequent criticism and snide remarks, a little bit louder than usual, they made her trip... while she was carrying their three cups of HOT tea. So as it always happen, the cups and their content went flying in the air. As luck would have it, everything fell on Lettuce; both the hot liquid and the hard cups of tea. At least, lucky for her, Ryou and his incredible reflexes were there. So before, the scalding tea could scar her for life, he dragged her upstairs, she hadn't even seen those stairs, surely breaking every door on his way, and put her in the shower under very cold water._

"_Sh-Shirogane-san! It-it's c-cold!", helplessly yelled Lettuce._

"_Sorry, but there's no other way. We wouldn't want you to get a burn."_

_Strangely, it seemed that during all the commotion, she had lost her glasses and they had both found themselves in the shower. Ryou had to act too fast to notice that he was also a target to the cold water. They were now face to face, so near, that, even without her glasses, she could see him clearly; how the beads of water would sting at the tip of his bangs hiding part of his intense blue eyes piercing her soul from within or how he would slightly shiver from time to time because of the water._

"_You know, you should have let us do something about those three girls. I'm sure nothing of that would have happened if we had stop them earlier. Lettuce, don't let others trample over you like that.", he sighed silently. "You're too kind for your own good..." _

_Suddenly, he took conscience of the fact that the water was really cold so he turned it off and stepped out to go fetch some towels._

_All the while, Lettuce was looking down, thinking of what Ryou had just said and felt ashamed of being so weak. Deep inside of her, she knew it wasn't her fault, but she couldn't stop herself from feeling guilty. Because, even though the trio of doom were mean, maybe if she had been able to reach them and become their friend they wouldn't have turned out so bad. Or maybe, if she had let Ryou, Ichigo, Mint or even Akasaka-san act in her defence like they had wanted to, she wouldn't have broke three cup of tea and force Ryou to sweep in and save her. With those thought running through her head, she didn't see Ryou come back in dripping wet with three towels in hand. He handed one to her, but since she was still looking at the floor, Ryou took it as a sign that she felt exhausted after everything that happened and took on him to dry her hair. When she felt the soft feeling of the towel over her head she startled a little, but Ryou held her in place and continued to dry her hair off. She was feeling so secure and comfortable in his presence. _

'It seems that Ryou is always saving me these days, could it be...'_, Lettuce thought, but was interrupted by Ryou who just finished with her hair._

"_There you go, all dry.", he stated while staring at her. "You know, you really have beautiful hair. You should let it loose sometimes", he remarked taking a strand of her hair in his hand. However when he stepped back, he saw that she was still shivering in her wet clothes and he also misinterpreted the blush creeping up her face due to his action as coldness taking over her. "Sorry. I forgot about your clothes. Wait here, I'm gonna get you something dry to wear."_

_Before she could say anything, he was once again out of the bathroom. Less than a minute later, however, he was already back in with some of his clothes in hand._

"_It surely will be too big for you, but I'm sure it's gonna be more comfortable than what you're presently wearing. Oh, and here are your glasses. I found them in the corridor", he said handing her the clothes and glasses. " And don't worry about the clothes, yours will have to be put in the dryer, and in between you have to wear something, so don't mind it, okay?", he hastily added when he saw that she was going to refuse his offer. "I'm going to be on the other side. So you can just change here, and we'll go put your clothes in dryer after."_

_And once again, before she could say anything, she had found herself alone in the room again. Having no other choice, Lettuce changed into Ryou's clothes taking a sniff of his scent at the same time; a sweet smell from always being in the café and one more bitter like coffee, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Anyway, he smelled just like him, someone who looked harsh at first sight, but was truly good at heart. Once she was done, she took her clothes, glanced a last time at the mirror to see if she her hair wasn't too messy, the boy had to have some strength to dry her hair on such a short length of time, and stepped out. _

_Until now, she had succeeded to keep her cool and only blush ever so slightly, even in front of a very near and wet Ryou. However, in presence of a half naked man, even more a half naked Ryou, she could stop herself from becoming beet red. _

XXX

He had his back turned to her, so she tried to take the time before he turned around to calm down. Still, it seemed that luck really wasn't on her side today, because, before she could tone down her complexion back to normal, he faced her. At first, he was like a stone, a surprised look etched on his face like he couldn't believe what he was seeing. But then, the shock passed and in two short strides he was in front of her, still without a shirt on, minutiously examining her for any sign of injury.

"Are you alright? Does it hurt anywhere? Is there a burn?", he worriedly asked.

"I-I'm f-fine, Shirogane-san", she stuttered. "Thanks to you, again", she smiled.

When he smiled back at her, she had to hold her breath. He was always charming, but when he smiled, it's like the world had gotten brighter, and she couldn't take her eyes off of him.

"Glad to hear that. Now I think we should go back down to show them you're still alive and see if everything's alright. I heard quite a chaos when I brought you upstairs earlier", he pensively said.

She still couldn't keep her eyes off him. Even his pensive face was enchanting; lips slightly pursued, eyes in the vague and eyebrows faintly nearer each other. However, a knock on the door frame brought them both to reality and they could see Akasaka-san in the shadow of the corridor a small smile on his face.

"Um, Ryou? The girls had to go for an.. emergency. I told them you would join them at the usual meeting point. How-e-ver... you should probably put a shirt on before going", remarked Akaska-san.

His cheeks now faintly pink tainted, Ryou rushed to put a shirt on and was out after casting a rapid goodbye to the two and left in the room.

"So, Lettuce, we should probably go put those in the dryer", he said pointing to her clothes. "Wait for me in the kitchen, and I'll prepare something for you after putting your wet things in the dryer", he added after she nodded.

Once again, she was left alone after Akasaka-san had grabbed her clothes and walked away. So she went downstairs toward the kitchen. However, when she got to the café, everything was a mess. Chairs were thrown down, tables were misplaced and many remains of unidentifiable things were lying everywhere. Clients must have left rapidly, because there were half empty plates on almost every table, and several footsteps were printed in the food over the floor toward the exit. Deciding she didn't want to know what happened there yet, she skipped straight to the kitchen where she patiently waited for Akasaka-san.

XXX

When he came back he made a beeline to the oven and asked her straight what she wanted to eat.

"I-I don't mind. I've already caused a lot of trouble today, I don't want to add making me something to the list...", she desperately trailed off.

"Lettuce-chan. Look me in the eyes.", he waited to continue until she finally did as asked. "I don't want you ever again to say such things. We're all here for you, Ichigo-chan, Minto-chan, Ryou and me. After, everything everyone has done for your sake today, they wouldn't want you to throw it all away by pitying yourself. So cheer up now, and I'll make you taste my new recipe. It's a strawberry, vanilla and chocolate swirl cake. The same as Neapolitan ice cream, but in form of a cake with real pieces of strawberry."

"T-thank you, Akasaka-san.", said Lettuce with tears brimming at the corner of her eyes. "It means a lot to me what you just said. For long, I thought no one cared for me, and even if I tried my hardest, people wouldn't notice me or become my friends."

"It was my pleasure Lettuce-chan. How about a cup of hot chocolate with the cake? I meant what I said about it soothing a broken soul.", he said with a friendly smile.

After a lot of testing, they had to try more than one piece to be sure the cake was that good, and sending all of their taste buds in heaven, Lettuce had enough courage to ask what was bothering her since Ryou had left earlier.

"Um... A-Akasaka-san, why does Ryou live up here? Over the café? When I was upstairs earlier, I noticed a bed in the room and Ryou seemed to know the place well, and he had spare clothes to lend me and change into, and also the first time I came, he also changed himself, so I was wondering if or why he lived up there?", she said in a rush turning her last sentence in a question.

"Wo, Lettuce-chan, calm down. In truth, yes you're right, Ryou lives over the café. However, I can't give you much details since it's not my place to tell, but Ryou is an orphan so the café is kind of his home.", slowly responded Akasaka-san thinking of what he should say. "He may not look like it, but Ryou is a genius. He's only 17, but his IQ his over the average. So, being kind of out of the ordinary, when his parents died he closed himself off and created this façade to protect himself", at that Akasaka-san smiled sadly. "Anyway, if you want to know more don't be afraid to ask him.", he cheerfully said trying to change the mood.

Not wanting to embarrass herself or put Akasaka-san in a situation he didn't to be in, she let the subject drop, but still remembering that she'll have some more questions for Ryou one day... when she'll find the courage to ask.

"So Akasaka-san, what did Ichigo, Minto and Shirogane-san had to do. It seemed urgent, did something bad happened?", inquired Lettuce trying to find a _better_ subject.

"Don't worry about it Lettuce-chan. Now we should go and start to clean the café if we want to be done before nightfall.", he vaguely said while taking off.

Once again, Lettuce let it drop not wanting to create tensions between her new boss and her and followed him prepping herself to work. Her head was so full of Akasaka-san's hazy responses to her questions and the intense session of cleaning waiting for her that she missed the ajar door, left by the girls or Ryou in their hurry, which was leading to unknown basement to her. Café Mew Mew wasn't all it seemed to be, and she had many discoveries to do about it yet.

XXX

**Okay. So I've updated chapter 1 and 2 (once again), because I didn't really liked what I had written so far. However, there are only minor details in the chapters. (just to add, if you see any mistakes, please tell me, thanks :D )**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – The Changing

**Hi! I'm back, sorry it took so long. I had exams so uh... bummer. Anyway, hope once again you enjoy. Oh! I also noticed I didn't do any disclaimer since the start, but I don't own nothing of Tokyo Mew Mew, now or never so that's why I didn't think I had to... :D**

XXX

Lettuce looked around her. She couldn't find Ichigo or Minto, and the café was getting busier. However, since there were only three of them serving, but with one acting as a customer, they could hardly provide for all the work, so being all by herself was extenuating. She had looked everywhere; in the kitchen, the locker room, the café, the backyard, and down the path to the café to see if they were coming. So for now, she had to try to compensate for girls's absence. At least, Akasaka-san was kind enough to lend a hand from time to time even though he was also very busy in the kitchen.

It seemed like everyone disappeared. Even Ryou was nowhere to be seen.

'_I wonder if they're alright. Maybe something happened yesterday...'_, she worriedly thought.

She hadn't learned a lot from Akasaka-san when they were cleaning. However, from his many glances toward the door, she had deduced she had a reason to be concerned. Even though she only had met everyone a few weeks ago, she considered them like family. They would go to all length to protect her, and she was grateful to them for that. On that thought, she went back to work, she would have time to worry later, now she needed to back up the three who weren't there.

XXX

She finally took some time to relax. Earlier in the day, she had seen Ryou make his way hurriedly through the café to his room upstairs. He wasn't jumping everywhere out of happiness, when was he, but he seemed fine and he even nodded toward her way when he first stepped in. Later on, Akasaka-san had went upstairs too, and she hadn't seen them since.

She really wanted to know about what happened and if Ichigo and Minto were alright as well, but she decided that it could wait. She didn't want to put the two boys on the spot and force them to tell her something they weren't comfortable to. With her head full of those thoughts, she went to the locker room to change and didn't see the cloth on the floor. So, as it usually would happen for Lettuce, she slipped on it and fell down. When she tried to get up, she took hold of a door handle next to her and when she put her weight on it the door opened. Startled, Lettuce quickly tried to get a hold of the door again which was almost halfway opened, but before she could, voices rang from the room down the staircase.

"Does she suspect anything?", she heard Ryou ask. "We wouldn't want her to be involved in this, are you sure that she's one of them?"

"No, Ryou, she doesn't know anything. But I think she mind find something sooner or later if you guys keep disappearing.", Akasaka-san responded a little exasperated. "As for her being like the other girls, yes I'm sure. Remember she was also at the expositions like Ichigo and Minto..."

"Like many other girls", Ryou muttered.

"AND she has the mark. I know you saw it the other day. I'm sorry but your clothes were quite loose on her..."

At that Ryou blushed slightly and didn't dare utter another word. After awhile, Akasaka-san added something else.

"As for the new girl, will she old enough? Maybe we shouldn't involve her in this."

"You know we have to include her, the girls will be stronger together, they'll have more power. If we don't, she'll eventually become a prey to the aliens."

"Yes, you're right, like we look after Lettuce until she awakens."

"Yeah, Lettuce...", Ryou trailed off.

Shocked of hearing her name, Lettuce had to stifle a cry of surprise. All kind of thoughts ran through her head. Not knowing what to do, she hurried to the locker room, took her things and left without changing. On her way home, tears fell down her face, she felt so _betrayed_. Those who she thought were her friends were, in reality, only supporting her. She felt herself in the Trio of Doom situation all over again. They weren't using her, but she was a task to them, someone to look over, like she couldn't do anything by herself.

"They're waiting for me to awaken? What, they see me as a frail little girl who needs to mature up?", she said in spite. "I'm gonna show them I can be independent."

'_If only I was something more to you, Ryou..._'

She deeply sighed and thought of what she could do to make them see her as an equal.

Lost in her rant and what would happen, she had totally forgot the mention of powers and aliens, or the fact that there was a said alien floating above her.

XXX

The next day, Lettuce didn't show up. Ichigo and Minto, okay mostly Ichigo, were excited to show Lettuce their new addition to the group; a younger little blond girl with a lot of energy and the agility of a monkey. They knew that Lettuce wanted many friends and with her kindness they were sure that they would hit it off. Everyone was worried about her, they knew that no one was home; her brother was out with school and her mother had accompanied her father on a business trip. They had tried to call her home, but it wouldn't answer, so they believed, or more hoped, that she was somewhere else, like the library, and that she couldn't come to work.

The day after that, Lettuce showed up... one hour late. When she entered, everyone gaped at her. Instead of her usual two braids, her hair was put in a high ponytail. Her make-over didn't stop at that, she wore black high boots, tight blue dark jeans and a white camisole with a black leather jacket. She had also ditched her glasses to wear contacts.

From the outside she looked so tough, but inside she was completely unsure of what to do. She looked around at everyone, and suddenly noticed the new addition to the team; a young girl with a yellow uniform. A hurt look flashed in her eyes. She missed one day and she was already replaced. She had tried her best during that day to leave her weak pathetic self behind her and gain everyone's true friendship.

"I see you finally found the courage to stand up for yourself", Minto casually said. "However, it doesn't mean you have to change yourself... I may have liked the old Lettuce best."

And once again a hurt look flashed in her eyes. '_I'm not accepted, I'm just a friend you can keep on the side when you need her_', she desperately thought.

Seeing her look so lost, Ryou took hold of her hand and dragged her in the kitchen with Ichigo following in tow. When they entered Akasaka-san was there, and like everyone did before, he gaped at the new Lettuce.

"Lettuce? Wha-"

"Lettuce, what's happened to you? Why didn't you come yesterday", Ryou asked ignoring Akasaka-san.

"What's wrong, I can't take a day off?", she tried to act aloof. "Anyway, I had some things to do", she added quietly like her old self would've done.

"But we were worried about you. You should have at least called", interjected Ichigo.

"So what did you have to do", said Akasaka-san finally regaining his senses.

At that Lettuce didn't know what to say. She didn't want to bring up Akasaka-san and Ryou's conversation up, but she didn't know what to say to explain her sudden change.

"I wanted to be accepted", she finally responded. "I didn't want to be a burden on you guys so I tried to change. I know I can be shy and clumsy, but since we're working in a café I wanted to be on the same level as you all. I'm sorry.", she ended bowing her head down.

"Don't be. You wanted to try something new and found the courage to do so. But it's not by not showing up and changing yourself that it will help you to become someone else.", said Minto entering the kitchen.

"Yeah, just trust that we are your friend and that we'll be there for you if there's anything", added Ichigo.

Seeing she had such good friends, Lettuce started to cry. When they hold her to comfort her, it amplified. She couldn't believe she had compared them to the Trio of Doom, they were nothing alike.

"So, why don't we close up early and eat all together tonight? And Lettuce, we have someone to present to you.", interrupted happily Akasaka-san.

XXX

Later, as it usually would've happen Lettuce was cleaning the place before going home. She had pushed everyone out saying she owed it to everyone for being so kind to her. Even Pudding, whom she had just met, didn't want to let her do it alone. But when Lettuce said for the umpteenth time that she didn't mind, they stopped trying to make her change her mind and said their goodbyes. Akasaka-san had succeeded to make Minto walk for once, so they all went their way; Akasaka-san and Minto one way, and Ichigo and Pudding another.

'_Pudding is such a good girl_', she thought

She had tried to make Lettuce laugh during all the dinner with all her tricks. She was so easy to be with since she was so innocent and sincere. Pudding couldn't stop talking, so she had learned about all of her brothers and sisters and how she had to take care of them.

'_She is young yet so mature_ _', _she sighed.

Ryou then made is entrance. Once again, they were alone and she couldn't stop staring at him.

"Do I have something on my face?", Ryou asked. "Pudding accidently threw some cake on me before leaving, so I had to go change, but did I miss some?"

"Oh! Um... no I was lost in thought", Lettuce blushed. However, now that she was out of her trance she saw a big smudge of frosting on his face.

'_How could I not see this_', she thought laughing. "In fact, since you're telling me, there's a – um – frosting on your left cheek."

Ryou tried to wipe it with his hand, but it was really sticky so he just spread it.

"Here, let me", Lettuce said, taking a neat cloth.

She cleaned up his face gently, all the while trying to avoid his stare. When she was done, she brushed her hand against his face to see if anymore stickiness was left, but before she could remove her hand, Ryou took hold of it, thus forcing her to look him in the eyes.

"I know the girls told you that you didn't need to change yourself in any case or for anyone, and I totally agree with them, but I wanted to tell you that you looked really nice today. You may have looked different, but it suits you.", Ryou stated a smile twitching at the corner of his lips.

"T-thank y-you, Sh-Shirogane-san", Lettuce stuttered. She didn't know what to say to that. No one had told her they had liked her look today, and she was quite flattered to hear that from Ryou.

They stared at each other a long time, until Lettuce's cell went on, thus breaking the moment.

"Hello?", she timidly answered. "Oh! Hi, mom. You're back already?", she tried to listen intently to what her mother was saying, but Ryou's gaze on her was distracting. "Um, yes I'm on my way back. Don't worry, I should be home soon. Bye, love you."

When she finally hung up, Ryou was at her side with his car keys.

"Want me to drive you back home?", he offered.

"Um, yes if you don't mind.", she countered shyly.

"It would be my pleasure."

After that, they got out, Ryou holding the door for her. In that instant she was quite happy and hoped nothing would never make her friendship with everyone falter again.

XXX

**I know it wasn't much of a change, but that's how I see it and there's plenty coming up, so don't ditch my story just yet :P**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 – The Discoveries

**So here's the next chapter. Not so bad, two chapters in less than what?, three days :O Hope you enjoy... the meeting of the parents**

**Also, for those who reviewed, thank you so much it's always pleasant to see someone like my story, and for the others I'm glad you're at least reading it :P :D**

XXX

'_I can't believe what happened...Ryou met my parents!_'

"Ahhhh!", Lettuce yelled stuffing her face in her pillow. The last two days had been hellish. She had to skip school to change her appearance, which ended up being useless, and now her parents knew about Ryou...

XXX

_On their way to her house, both of them had been kind of shy, so they had only made small talk. However, the silence was a comfortable one, it's not that they didn't have anything to talk about, but they just preferred to enjoy each other's presence. Then, when they parked in front of her house, Ryou wanted to get more time with Lettuce, and so he walked her to the door._

"_Th-thank you, Shirogane-san"_

"_No problem.", Ryou smirked. "I wanted to make sure that you were alright after everything that happened. I know that since you met us all it wasn't all that easy, but know that you're important to all of us."_

_A breeze brushed by them and misplaced one of Lettuce's strand of hair. Ryou lifted his hand to replace it and left it there taking in the feeling of her soft skin._

"_Lettuce, I know your changing yourself wasn't on a whim, you're a down-to-earth person... But what happened that made you want to change?", he softly said. "I know we met each not long ago, but I think that..."_

_Then the light opened on the porch and they jumped apart surprised. Before one of them could do anything else the door opened showing two adults with equally surprised look. The woman was slightly smaller than Lettuce with dark green hair and glasses. The man was as tall as Ryou also wearing glasses, but with brown hair. They both had a worried look on their face, but when they saw Lettuce, a smile appeared on the woman's face, while the man kept a stern face. All the while, Ryou's presence was completely forgotten. _

"_Lettuce! You're finally home!", her mom cheered. _

"_We were worried sick about you. We thought you could have been kidnapped or worse. Is it that knew job of yours that made you come late again?", her father said strictly._

"_Eizaburou, love, calm down.", soothingly said Lettuce's mother. She then took notice of Ryou. "We wouldn't want to scare Lettuce's...?", she trailed off._

"_Boss. Hi, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Shirogane Ryou.", he said with a cordial smile. "I know Lettuce is often late because of her new job at the café, and I'm sorry for that. Your daughter is too kind for her own good, but that's why I make sure that she arrives home safely." _

_Ryou then respectfully stretched his hand out to Lettuce's father who shook it firmly. _

"_I'm glad to hear that Lettuce has such a good man looking out for her. Next time, even though she says she has to do something and that she owe it to you, try to bring her before it's dark outside.", Lettuce's dad said with a small smile."So young man, how old are you? If you are my daughter's boss, it means you're already working? Aren't you still in high school?", he added when he saw Ryou nod._

"_Yes, sir. I mean no, sir. I mean, I'm 17 and working right now but I'm already done with school.", Ryou responded a little bit out of character._

"_So you're a drop out?"_

"_No, I mean, I've already finished high school and got my University diploma." At that comment, Ryou casted a sideway glance at Lettuce. He didn't how she would react knowing he was a genius. And Lettuce was quite shocked, she already knew that Ryou was more intelligent than the majority of people since Akasaka-san had told her, but he had undermined the truth. She wasn't the only one impressed, so were her parents; so young and he already had gotten his diploma; both high school and university! That had left Lettuce's father speechless._

"_Now we'll go so you two can say your goodbyes without us, adults, in your way", her mother winked at Lettuce while she made her way back in dragging her husband in tow._

_Lettuce had stayed silent during all the exchange, but at that small gesture she had to blush. Her blush became even redder when she realized that Ryou had probably seen that not so discreet wink, and that they were now alone._

"_Your parents seem like good people.", Ryou said breaking the silence. "They're quite lively, your mother mostly."_

"_Yeah, and you haven't met my brother either. Him and my mother together can be quite chaotic, there's only my father and me left to keep it under control.", Lettuce Laughed. "Anyway, I think you've quite impressed them"_

"_Yeah, about that please don't tell anyone. I don't want the others to treat me differently because of it.", he scratched the back of his head feeling uneasy._

"_Don't worry it'll be our secret", she blushed at being so daring. They had a secret, just the two of them even though Akasaka-san and her parents were in it per say, but that didn't matter. "And thanks for today, taking care of me and all...", she tried to look nonchalant. _

"_It was my pleasure. Now I'll see you tomorrow?"_

"_Yeah, don't worry I'll be there"_

_Ryou walked back to his car while Lettuce admired him from afar all memory from Akasaka-san and Ryou's conversation forgotten at the moment. She was just glad that Ryou's meeting with her parents had gone so smoothly, even though she would go on an interrogation the moment she crossed the threshold._

XXX

The next day, Lettuce arrived early to make up for all the commotion that she had caused the day before. Her math had ended before time, so she had decided to take the time to thank Ryou once again for his kindness. She couldn't stop thinking about him since the previous evening. Her parents had been quite impressed by him, and wanted her to invite him over soon if she could. She hadn't promised anything, but she had said she would try. When she entered everything was calm, but it wasn't all surprising to her since they weren't in the rush time of the weekend or the after school. However, before she could search for Ryou, Pudding entered and jumped directly on Lettuce once she saw her.

"Hi Lettuce! Do you know what I did today? I went to the aquarium with my class, and, look, I bought fishies for my family as a souvenir! Do you think they'll like them? Here, I have a dolphin for you! Isn't it soft? I thought of you when I saw it, doesn't your name mean green river? I really like your hair today too, it's so cool you can do a ponytail with it. Mine is too short!"

Lettuce almost couldn't keep up with the little girl, but she was like a breath of fresh hair. She also liked the toy, and the fact that putting her hair up hadn't gone unnoticed. She was wearing her school uniform today since she had gone to school, but she had kept some of her rebellious streak by doing her hair up. However, the contacts weren't much of a success, she was keeping them for a special occasion, but other than that they weren't really that comfortable. Her parents had been surprised by her sudden change, but they had said that it suited her, and that if she liked it they also did.

Pudding's rambling brought her back to earth. "... then the seal jumped right out of the water and splashed everyone in the front rows! Have you ever seen seals? ... Lettuce? Are you listening to me", she whined.

"Yes I am Pudding-chan.", she smiled. "And no I haven't seen seals ever before. So why don't we seat and eat some sweets while you tell me more about them? The café won't open before long, and everyone else will arrive only later."

"Yay! Only if we take strawberry shortcake, a big part of brownie, mille-feuille, vanilla cake, strudel, hot chocolate or cinnamon tea, or..."

"Don't worry Pudding, I'm sure we'll find something." Lettuce opened the door and was greeted by Akasaka-san. He had heard the girls' exchange, but hadn't want to bother.

"Hi, girls! So I heard you were quite hungry, so I took the liberty to took some things out, or one large portion of everything if you prefer."

"Are you sure it's okay Akasaka-san?", Lettuce asked glancing toward Pudding already starting to stuff her face with sweets.

"Don't worry, anyway these are meant to be eaten"

They were seating at the counter in the kitchen when a beeping noise came from Pudding.

"What's that Pudding? It's coming from you."

She got a yellow kind of stylish cell phone out of her pockets. There was a face on the screen looking a lot like Ichigo except with cat ears. There seemed to be danger, you could hear yells in the background, but she couldn't see anything else since the screen was too small, and anyway Pudding closed it almost as soon as she got it out.

"Oh! Um nothing! I have a family emergency, so we'll have to eat together another time. I've got to go!" Pudding was nervous, but she knew she had to get out there before Lettuce suspected anything more. Akasaka-san had understood what it was as soon as he had heard the ringing, but he was also lost as to what to do.

"Don't worry about that, I'll come with you."

"You don't have to, anyway I'm kind of in a hurry, so I'll have to run there.", she said slowly backing toward the door.

"Wait! We can ask Akasaka-san to drop you, I'm sure he won't mind, do you?", Lettuce ask inadvertently cornering her boss.

"No I don't, but –"

"There you see, Pudding, it's gonna be faster this way. Let's go."

In the rush of the situation, Lettuce led the two outside to the car. Akasaka-san and Pudding seemed quite unwilling to go, but it was an emergency or the girls wouldn't have called them and Lettuce seemed to have made up her mind about accompanying Pudding. The way downtown were Pudding had told them they should go hadn't been long by car. However, when they arrived there, it was impossible for them to continue in car. Everyone was running their way yelling about a monster attacking two Mew Mews.

That name somehow clicked in Lettuce's head. She had heard the Trio of Doom talk about them. They were two girls, or was it three since recently, with animal like powers who protected Japan from some sort of rampage animals. However, she hadn't really followed that story since she didn't think it could be true or that it was so important. She were glad that they protected the city, but it's not like they were after the publicity. After all weren't they always running away once the battle was over? She couldn't think more about those Mew Mews since Pudding jumped off the car and ran toward the danger. When she saw that, she did the same before Akasaka-san could try and stop her thus forcing him to also jump in the crowd. However, they were too many and he was led opposite the girls. As for Lettuce, she had succeeded to hide from the mass of people and started to ran after Pudding once the horde had dispersed.

Once she arrived at the site of the commotion, she could see that she had gotten it all wrong. The animals the Mew Mews were fighting weren't just animals with rabies, it was almost alien like. This one was as big as a truck, and looked like a monstrous dog. His fur was a dull gray and spiking in all the directions, he teeth were and nails were way bigger and sharper than a dog, even a stray, would have been. At least, it wasn't intelligent. It was only hitting with brute force the first that it would see.

There were three Mew Mews, but it didn't seem they were enough. They fought it with all they got, but it seemed immune to their attacks. The one looking a lot like Ichigo and with a cat's agility, was almost crushed by the monster, when the blue one with wings, who looked a lot like Minto, pushed her out of the way. She fired an arrow at the thing, but all it did was make it take a step backward. Nothing was affecting it, and it was even more furious now ready to charge right into the blue Mew Mew. Even the younger one's distraction, with tricks that were awfully resembling those of Pudding, it wouldn't astray him from her. Suddenly, when everything seemed like it was the end, a fourth girl appeared. She was wearing a purple ensemble and had wolf tail and ears. She yelled like a wolf, which made the monster stop for a moment, just enough for her to cast an attack that made it trip backward and fall on its back. Since it was too big, it couldn't get up, and that's when the pink Mew Mew readied her final attack.

However, Lettuce didn't see the end of the battle, she had noticed, not far away from her, Ryou lying unconscious on the ground. Before, she thought twice about it, she ran his way to see if he was still alive. She couldn't bear the thought of him not there to comfort her, and take care of her anymore. When she reached his side she was already crying imagining him in the worst condition. She was so glad when she saw he was still breathing with no evident injuries on him. He had only received a bad blow at the head.

"Ryou, I'm so glad you're alright!", she said his first name aloud for the first time. When she looked up, she saw that everyone was also safe, and that they had defeated the monster. It wasn't the end, though. Because, just as she was going to call the Mew Mews to help her take care of Ryou, she felt someone grab her neck forcefully to strangle her.

"Well, well, well... What do we have here?", a purple haired man with pointy ears said, lifting them both in the air.

XXX

**I'm sorry I finished on such a note, but I can't finish it now, and I thought '**_**Better put something than nothing**_**' I'll try not to drag to follow up for too long. Hope you enjoyed :D**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 – The Fight

**I'm really really really sorry. I know it took the longest time for me to update this thing, but I had exams and then I forgot about it, and then I lost track of what I wanted to do with it. (Should teach me a lesson to write only when I have inspiration and not write some things in advance) Anyway, it should kinda be updated more frequently now. (let's cross our fingers and hope for it)**

**Okay, now I know we all know who is who. BUT keep in mind that it's in Lettuce point of view (at least most of it) and she doesn't know –at least she doesn't realize - who the Mew Mews are. Anyway I can only keep that up that long, so everything is revealed so bear with it for the time being...**

XXX

"Pai, stop fooling around. It's not her we want, it's the Mew Mews!", another one floating man, she wasn't sure she could call them that, said floating next to them.

"That, my friend, is a hostage. A leverage for what's to come after. And if you must know, it's not any kind of leverage either", he mysteriously said.

"What do you mean", a younger one, same as the other two but with brown hair, said.

"You'll see. Now why don't you yell a little bit for me my dear?" He slightly let go of her, so she could breathe a little. Lettuce had defiant look in her eyes, showing that she wouldn't do what her kidnapper wanted her to. "Now, now. Don't act all brave on me. I've been following you for awhile and I know you don't have that much courage in you, now yell before I hurt your friend lying there." A energy ball was forming in the palm of his hand directed toward Ryou.

Lettuce didn't want to follow his orders, but she thought that if she could attract the girls' attention down there, she would get a better chance at staying alive and saving Ryou. So she yelled with all her might, the nearer toward his ears just to see if he would wince and get a taste of his own medicine. "HELP! I'M UP HERE! HURRY AND GO TAKE RYOU TO SAFET-hmmm!"

"Calm down, I just needed you to attract their attention, not tell them the story of your life." He said after putting a hand on her mouth to shut her up. "Now, looks like you're not that useless..."

The Mew Mews were all staring at Pai constricting his hand once again around Lettuce's neck to restrain her. Each took a battle pose ready to strike whenever the alien's defence was going to flinch.

"You know it's cowardice to take hostage. You're not even worth of our time if you can't even fight for yourself!", spat the purple Mew Mew.

"Oh! So the little dog can bark, but can it bite?", the alien responded in a calm deadly voice. "FUU-RAI-SEN!", he yelled pointing a giant fan toward the Mew Mew. However, before the attack could hit, with a canine like agility, the wolf Mew Mew jumped out of the way to land just under her assailants feet. Before the alien could realise she had survive, she got out her whip attack, trapped his ankle and pulled to bring him back down. Unfortunately, during their little interlude, the purple Mew Mew forgot there were other aliens. When they saw their friend in a pinch, the others came to Pai's rescue thus breaking the hold she had on him.

Seeing that she wouldn't be able to defeat them alone she returned back to the other Mew Mews. They were now back to square one; the aliens on one side with Lettuce in their clutches on one side, and Mew Mews powerless to save her on the other.

"Mew Zakuro? I know we met only minutes ago, but please don't do that again. If we want to do defeat them and free Lettuce, we have to work all together", the pink Mew Mew said.

"Mew Ichigo is right for once. You could also get hurt, and since we wouldn't know what you want to do we couldn't help you at the best of our abilities", the blue Mew Mew added.

"Don't worry about me Little one. I'm used to working alone", she said slightly patting the blue hair.

"Now, all that's very touching, but I think we have more pressing matters to take care of. If I don' mistake the color her skin turned to, she's gonna need air soon.", Pai said pointing to Lettuce's face. So all of you, focus up here again, drop your weapons, take a step back and don't dare try anything or this one here is gonna pay for it.", he smirked knowing he had the upper hand. The Mew Mews reluctantly did as they were told. "Good girls. Kish, Tart go bind their hands behind their back.", he ordered

"Hmph... I don't take orders from you. Anyway, what's the use? They're already helpless, it's too much trouble for nothing", grumbled Kish.

"I'm the oldest, so just do as I say. And you know that every time we think we have them, someone or something happens and we lose. So while we have all the chances on our side I don't want to take a risk of losing again.", replied an exasperated Pai.

"Guys, calm down! I don't mind, I'm gonna do it. So Kish just stand there doing nothing, and Pai try not to kill her", said Tart flying towards the girls.

"Oh, no! I won't let you touch my kitty-cat. Take care of the others, but the pink one is mine.", yelled Kish flying toward the said Mew Mew.

"Now that everything's under control...", Pai said redirecting his attention toward Lettuce once again, "what do you say we move our plan up a notch?" He made a cobra appear and threw it in front of the girls. "Para-Para! Possess that cobra!" A parasite appeared out of nowhere and entered the cobra's body. It grew larger and larger until it was three stories high and as big as a truck. A hard carapace had grown over its back and head with spikes at the sides. A long constricting tongue poke through two sharp, deathly fangs.. Everyone gasped in horror, even the younger aliens weren't sure of the eldest's creation. "Everyone, calm down. It's not _that_ deadly... Its poison is quite special. Now before I demonstrate what it can do, Lettuce? Will you cooperate with us or will we have to coerce into doing what we want you too?" At that, Pai let slightly go of Lettuce letting her express herself freely.

"Please, don't do this! I'm sure we can find a peaceful way to settle whatever your problem is...", she asked pleadingly. However, all her effort was in vain, since Pai's plan was already coming to an end, and with promised success. Yet, it still seemed that there was something left in stock before the end would come. Before anyone could add something to replicate to Lettuce's frantic pleading two things happened. First, Ryou stirred and woke up not knowing where he was, but since he was used to battle against the aliens, he swiftly took a defending posture ready to fight off whatever may come his way. Second, Akasaka-san, who had succeeded to break the current of people leading him in the wrong way and had hid waiting for the perfect opportunity to interrupt, appeared next to the girls.

It may seem weird that he chose that moment to make his appearance, however what wasn't said is that Ryou made quite a ruckus when he saw that Lettuce was held firmly by the enemy. In the end, everyone's attention was riveted to Ryou and he used that distraction to untie the girls one after the other; the first one being Mew Zakuro who was positioned at the far end of the street nearer Akasaka-san. Just as he was moving to Minto to undo her bindings Tart noticed him and flew in his direction.

"What are you doing? Brother won't be happy..."

XXX

Ryou was hearing faint voices coming from far away it seemed. It was Lettuce's voice, it sounded desperate. He wanted to go help her, but he ached all over and his senses were dulled. He opened one eye and he could distinct the aliens floating, Lettuce helpless choking in a fierce grip, and a giant snake-like parasite at their feet. Then a blinding light attracted his attention. He could see more clearly now, the girls had their hands tied and as powerless as they all were. Suddenly the glint appeared once again, it was Keiichiro crouched in an alley near the girls. He was partially in the shadows his watch flashing in the sun. He knew what Keiichiro had in mind, but he also knew he wouldn't have a chance against the aliens if they were to find him before he released anyone. So, amidst his throbbing limbs, he got up, improvising as he went hoping that the chimera snake wouldn't attack him without his masters' command.

"Hey! Let go of Lettuce, she hasn't done anything to upset you!", he yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Or what? If we look at the present situation, we can see that I have an hostage, a defender and we're three against one because your friends are all tied up", he said smugly. "So, tell me. What are you going to do?"

Ryou was still searching of something to do, when he walked on shattered glass. That's when an idea popped into his mind.

"Oh! Am I supposed to be scared of your petty little threats? It's not as if you're able to fight yourself", Ryou smirked. "You need to call forth a chimera animal each time you battle against us and either way, you never win"

Pai kept his calm knowing that Ryou's rant was only a method make them act on impulse, and lose their concentration. However, Kish was too hot-blooded to keep his head cool, and directly went into the trap.

"Don't you dare look down on us!" Kish hissed. "You know we're winning and can't accept that fact. So let's see what a powerless human like you can do against one of my attacks... " At that, he plunged forward and tried to slice Ryou with his blades. With his agility, inches before he was cut deeper than just a scratch, Ryou threw himself on the ground rolling and taking a handful of shattered glass uncaring of the scrapes caused by the sharp objects.

Thinking he had injured his opponent badly, Kish returned to where his brothers were with a smug look on his face. However, before he could reach them, sharp pieces of glass were thrown his way. He tried to stop them with his swords, but it seemed like there was no stopping the stream of missiles coming his way. Ryou may not have been as powerful as the Mew Mews, but he still had some tricks up in his sleeves. With his feline agilities he was faster than normal and had perfectly precise aim, thus permitting him to easily distract his opponents. Nonetheless, he wasn't as effective as he hoped to be. He didn't dare aim at Pai who had Lettuce in a deadly grip, and Kish took all of his attention. So, he didn't see when Tart slipped away towards the Mew Mews, out of the way of the attack, where he knew Ryou wouldn't attack. Like predicted, Ryou never once aimed towards the Mew Mews, and was completely taken by surprise when the chimera serpent appeared between him and Kish with Keiichiro in his grip. Now, not only his precious Lettuce and the Mew Mews in dangers, but also his loyal friend.

XXX

Lettuce squirmed in Pai's grip. At last, she freed her mouth, took a big gulp of air and yelled.

"Ryou! RUN!"She was too fearful for the blond's well being to notice or be embarrassed by the fact that she had called him by his first name. When she saw him look up, she knew it was too late. Kish had used the distraction to bring Ryou to his knees, a blade at his throat. "How dare you! Let go of me... let go!", she cried desperately, thrashing against her aggressor and completely letting go of her discreet nature in hope of freeing of friends.

"Oh, I knew you had it in you. You're so feisty. But calm down, now. You don't really want me to let go of you, do you?", he soothed like he would do with a young child. "We're really high, and if I release you, you're gonna fall and hurt yourself." Whatever Pai was saying was completely ignore by Lettuce whose only goal was to save Ryou. She was still struggling when he had enough and once again choked her. "Now, I think I've had enough. Since you won't cooperate with us, we'll have to take matters in our own hands...", he said threateningly.

At that instant, a whip slashed Pai's shoulder making him lose his grip on Lettuce who then proceeded to plummet down. However, before she could hurt herself she landed on a soft pudding/jell-o like cushion. She then noticed the purple and the blue Mew Mew fighting with the aliens while the yellow and the pink one took care of the creature.

It seemed that without a master, the monster wasn't as effective as it should be. With two hostages it couldn't fight freely and its attacks were merely constituting of it biting around. There didn't seem to be anything special about it as Pai had said it. However, with the two guys stuck within its deathly grips, the Mew Mews couldn't do much either. Then, taking matters in her own hands, Lettuce imitated Ryou and threw shards its way. Since she wasn't anything special like the creature her attempt was less helpful than Ryou's. However, it seemed that the _animal_ still remembered that Lettuce had an important role to play from its master's obsession with her and let go his hostages to attack her. It crawled its way toward her and, even though she knew it was useless, Lettuce ran the opposite way.

"Lettuce!", she heard her name being yelled by the yellow Mew Mew. She couldn't take the time to respond, so she ignored her when, thanks to her usual luck, she tripped and fell face first on the ground thus positioning herself as an easy target to the beast. "Ribbon Pudding Ring INFERNO!" When Lettuce looks up she sees that the creature is immobilized by the yellow Mew Mew attack. Then it is being blasted to nothingness after a "Ribbon Strawberry CHECK!" is yelled. Once the creature disappears, Lettuce searches frantically for Ryou. She sees him on the ground once again with Akasaka-san at his side. The Mew Mews had already left to help their comrades, and Lettuce didn't waste another minute to run to Ryou's side.

"Ryou! Are you alright?", she almost cried. He was unconscious again. Scared that his head suffered more damage than it could support, she delicately rested his head on her lap. "Please, Ryou, open your eyes..." He still didn't react. She was imagining the worst case scenario when Akasaka-san put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Lettuce, don't worry. He's going to be alright. He's tougher than he seemed and worst things happened to him", he smiled reassuringly at her. She wasn't quite comforted knowing that he suffered much worst, but still she trusted Akasaka-san to know what to do. He seemed used to such a situation, like it was completely normal and he had to fight aliens every day. She couldn't linger on that thought much longer, because then the fight between the Mew Mews and the aliens took even bigger proportions.

It was an all out battle. Everyone was fighting with their most powerful attack trying to bring the other side to its knees. Pai, the blue and purple Mew Mews in their little war and Kish, Tart and the other two Mew Mews in theirs. The two separate groups didn't react to one another, but from either one the layout was the same. The Mew Mews launched an attack, the aliens responded with one their own and both side tried to dodge what was thrown their way. It was never ending and no one seemed to take the upper hand.

XXX

"Tart! Why are you doing this? I thought we were friends. Wouldn't you prefer to play with us than to fight?", the monkey Mew Mew tried to talk the alien into making peace.

"Tsk- I already told you I don't have a choice, Mew Pudding", the small alien answered.

After hearing the name, everything clicked into place in Lettuce's mind. However, she didn't have the time to worry about for now, and it certainly wasn't the place for it either. So, she continued to pay attention to what was happening not far away hoping that Ryou would open his eyes and didn't let herself be distracted by the ominous thoughts that were starting to run through her head.

"We always have a choice. You're just too scared to make one for yourself", Mew Ichigo added.

"Don't tell us we're cowards. You don't know anything about us...", Kish seemed almost sad after that comment. He was going to add something when Pai landed next to them and made retain whatever private information he was going to divulge.

"Guys, it's no use to fight separately. It's going nowhere and I'm quite tired of this, so let's just finish them up", Pai interjected with a bored voice.

"Ha! You're too weak to fight against two girls alone? I knew you weren't much of an opponent.", the purple Mew Mew mocked upon arrival.

"Now, I said no such things. I was merely tired of this petty fight not worth of wasting my time and energy", Pai snarled back.

"Mew Zakuro", Mew Minto said with an almost reverent voice, "we shouldn't waste _our_ time making small talk to those aliens", she finished with an air of contempt.

"You're right little one. Now what do you want to do, aliens? Fight us or run with your tail between your legs", Mew Zakuro asked almost politely.

"As if! We're way more stronger than all of you together", Kish said proudly.

"Yes, we are the great chosen ones of the Cy-", Tart started to say, nut was interrupted by Pai.

"Please, Tart. It's not the time for the revelations. Let's go we don't anything more to do here."

"What? You're leaving just like that? You're not fighting us?", mew Ichigo asked intrigued.

"We'll do no such things. Anyway, don't worry we'll be back. I have a much greater plan awaiting us in the near future", Pai responded mystically looking discreetly at Lettuce. Before anyone could say anything more, he disappeared leaving the others completely speechless. Kish was the first one to regain his wit since he was used to Pai acting almighty.

"Looks like we're gonna see each other again kitty", he said blowing a kiss to Ichigo. Tart only looked Pudding's way with an apologetic smile and a wave of the hand before disappearing also.

No one knew how to react when Akasaka-san voice could be heard through the silence.

"Girls, do you mind helping me get Ryou to the car? Then let's meet at the café. Lettuce you're going to ride with me is that okay?" Lettuce nodded, but even if he had not asked she wasn't ready to leave Ryou not knowing that he was alright yet.

XXX

**I know it's a weird way of ending since I haven't updated in so long, but there's a lot more to come and it's starting to be late, so sorry again.**

**And just so you know, I won't put Masaya in there. Anyway, I wouldn't know what to with him so he's out of the picture. Sorry, for those who wanted him to be with Ichigo. As for now, don't be afraid to leave constructive comments :D**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – The Revelation

**I know I haven't said it yet (at least I think), but thank you all for your reviews and having put alert on this story :D And it's my update is always irregular, but this one's longer, so it should compensate. I also found a title, tell me what you think about it. Now, on with the story...**

XXX

She exhaled a sigh. She couldn't believe that what happened to her was real. She couldn't determine what was real and what wasn't just yet. She _didn't_ want for any of it to be real. All the lies and the false words of comfort were hurting more than she wanted to admit. She thought herself as stronger since her change of appearance, but it seemed it was just that... appearance. Deep down, she was still the frail little that let herself be walked over by others. She wasn't strong like the others who could defeat aliens without even blinking. At least, she was glad that everyone was okay. _He _didn't sustain any injuries. She distractedly brushed the little bluish grey ball of fur on her lap.

"You, you wouldn't betray me, right?", she whispered softly. The cat purred its appreciation whether it was to agree with her question or just that it loved being caressed. Lettuce smiled sweetly still stuck on her souvenirs. They called themselves _friends_ when in truth she was once again another slave: useful when they needed someone to cover for them, but expendable.

XXX

_They were driving rapidly away from the battle zone zigzagging between the debris of the fight towards the café. Lettuce kept Ryou's head on her lap assuring herself every minute that he was still breathing and only suffering from a commotion. She was imagining the worst scenarios in her head and even though he only looked as if in a deep slumber, she couldn't forget the fact that he may very well be in more trouble than anyone seemed to think. _

_Akasaka-san tried to make her talk about what had happened and how she felt, but she couldn't find the energy to answer his endless questioning and purposefully ignored him. All her attention was riveted on Ryou, and when he finally roused, she immediately clamped their hands together squeezing tightly to make sure that he wouldn't return to his vegetable-sleeping state. She may also have wanted to do that for a long time; just to hold his hand as if they were something special to each other. She shook those thoughts out her head, completely focusing on Ryou._

"_Ryou, talk to me. Are you okay? Does it hurt anywhere? Do you need something?...", she asked anxiously. She couldn't stop the flow of questions. She was so relieved that he had finally opened his eyes, she was keeping the tears at bay with only the will to not overwhelm him too much._

"_I'm fine Lettuce, don't worry.", he said reassuringly. "What happened? I don't remember much after Pai let go of you. Oh! Lettuce, he just let go of you, are you alright? Did you break anything?", he asked trying to sit up. However, before he could get into a seating position, Lettuce pushed him down again with one hand on his chest, the other still interlaced with Ryou's. She was definitely crying now. Ryou had been unconscious longer than should be considered healthy and he was worried about her. She was so touched that he would consider her state before his while it was clear that he was in the worst condition. _

_Seeing her tears, Ryou reached up and brushed a tear away with his finger. _

"_Did I say something wrong? We're not oblige to talk about it, if you prefer we could – ", he started to say, but he was interrupted by her laugh. He was so glad that she would still laugh after everything that happened. He may not remember everything, but it surely is not something you were used to live every other day. Right then, he was awe in front of Lettuce. He could clearly remember Lettuce trying to negotiate with the aliens while she was held in her choking grip, how she had tried to warn him when Kish attacked him and how she was taking care of him. He was in awe, that such a fragile looking girl could be so caring and courageous. He decided at that moment that he would try everything to protect her._

"_Ryou, are you okay?", Lettuce enquired when she saw that his attention was lost._

"_Yes, Lettuce I'm fine.", he smiled at her. "I was just trying to understand why you were laughing", he added finding his countenance back._

"_Oh! It's just, that you were the unconscious one. You received more than one blow to the head in less than an hour, and you are worried about my mental state. You don't want to traumatize me, when you're surely the one who needs a check up on your mental capabilities. Not that you are crazy or anything! Oh, I'm sorry I shouldn't have said that. You're definitely perfectly stable mentally and physical – ", she stopped blushing. She knew it meant more if she stopped her sentence in the middle of it, but she couldn't let herself finish that sentence in front of him._

"_Glad to hear that I'm _perfectly_ well", Ryou answered with chuckling with a slight teasing tone in his voice. Lettuce flushed at his comment looking out the window to be sure not to cross his sight. Ryou knew he should try to reassure her, but, maybe it was the multiple commotions that made him lose his inhibitions, but he wanted to see more of Lettuce's flushed face. "Lettuce, I'm also pleased to notice that we're finally on the first name basis toward each other", he now added with a smirk. _

_Lettuce blushed even more profusely, but before she could add anything, Akasaka-san saved her. He had seen and heard the whole exchange from his VIP seat, and as much as he liked to see Ryou interacting more outside of the alien related work, he didn't want Lettuce to die of embarrassment right there either. So sped up a little and interrupted their – really mostly Ryou's – friendly banter._

"_Sorry to disrupt you, but we're almost there. Brace yourselves, because I'm sure there'll be a lot of questioning going on.", he finished with a small sigh. He cared a lot about the girls, and loved working with them all, but, when they were at it, they could be quite overwhelming._

_XXX_

_Once the three of them stepped through the door they got tackled by two really worried girls._

"_Lettuce! Ryou! Akasaka-san! I'm so glad you're okay? We waited forever for you to arrive!", Pudding said with her usual flourished nature. _

"_Yes, we worried that something happened to you on your way here.", Minto added from the back of the room._

"_Minto, don't act so cold. Just truly admit that you were worried sick like the rest of us.", Ichigo said slightly mocking her. "You couldn't wait to see with your own eyes that they were all safe and sound", she added in a sing-song voice._

"_Stop fooling around. There is a great threat upon our head.", a fourth girl standing far back of the room in the shadow interjected. She was a tall girl with long purple hair. She had a distinguished air around her making her unapproachable and her cool, unemotional face enhanced this aspect of her. She had delicate features designed for a model, but her eyes looked sad. "Did you encounter the aliens on your way here? If so, we should form a plan to defeat them.", she declared._

"_Who said we hadn't had a plan?", Ryou retorted. "Even if we didn't who are you to come here and judge us?"`_

"_You don't know who she is?", Minto exclaimed in outrage._

"_Minto, I'll handle this. Ryou, please.", Akasaka-san interfered. "It's Zakuro Fujiwara, the model and the new Mew Mew. Your DNA is combined with the grey wolf, is that right Ms. Fujiwara?", Akasaka-san pleasantly asked. _

"_You're wrong about me. I will not work with you. I may help you to rid the aliens from the Earth, but I will not be part of this so called team.", she stated coldly. "Could we go back to the matter at hand now?"_

"_E-excuse me? I know I have nothing to do with this, but maybe we should settle down first? J-just to calm down and think about what we should do more clearly?", she enquired shyly._

"_You're right, Lettuce. Let us all calm down and seat down. By the looks of it, I think you need more than any of us Ryou.", Ichigo said with the voice of reason. _

"_For once, Ichigo makes sense. We should remember this day. It's going to be written off in the history as the day when Ichigo Momomiya finally became part of the world of the righteous.", Minto declared relieving greatly the heaviness in the atmosphere. _

_That was all Lettuce was waiting to guide Ryou near a table to sit in a chair where Akasaka-san were sure to bring tea and sweets for everyone. They all sat around the table in silence almost gauging one another as if they were all enemies instead of people with the same goal; protect the Earth from the aliens. When Akasaka-san came back with all the promised tasty snacks the tension was once again palpable. No one was daring to say the first word in fear of ruffling the others' feathers and causing another ruckus. Finally, Pudding couldn't take it anymore. She may be able to act all grown up and thoughtful, but when her stomach entered the equation there was no way to keep her still except by feeding her. Since the plate with the goods were at the opposite side of the round table, and Akasaka-san hadn't asked if anyone wanted anything, Pudding was now in dire need of attracting attention to herself to finally gain what she desired._

"_I'm hungry!", she whined. "So go do your mean threatening stare contest somewhere else or pass me the plate with the food", she demanded._

"_Here you go Pudding", Akasaka-san chuckled. "I think you can have it all to yourself" _

_Once the sweets were in her reach she all but launch herself at the victuals savouring each bite like it was the last. As was her habit, Pudding started to make small talk with everyone, and at the end of her snack, which took less than 5 minutes, everyone was chatting amiably._

"_S-so, Zakuro-san, Akasaka-san said you were a model. Are you only working in Japan?", Lettuce asked wanting to know more about this mystery girl who didn't seem to want to be associated with the Mew Mews._

"_I work in the United States before, but it's all behind me now.", she responded extending the mysterious aura surrounding her._

"_Wow! You were in the states! How was it?", Minto asked enthusiastically._

"_Minto, that sounded so much like something Pudding would say.", Ichigo giggled freely. _

"_What did you say? Do you mean I'm immature?", Minto said insulted._

"_Hey! I'm not immature!", Pudding yelled at Minto._

"_That shows the characteristics of the advanced intellectual you really are", Minto answered impatiently._

"_Minto! Even though none us understood clearly what you said, there's no need to sound so mean.", Ichigo interposed quickly. "Don't listen to the tea monster Pudding, she's just sulking because her _'Oh! So sacred idol'_ isn't paying any attention to her.", Ichigo murmured loudly with an air of conspiracy to Pudding._

"_It's not because you have the mental age of a two year old that everyone else is the same, Ichigo", Minto retorted. "Nonetheless, shouldn't you be the one worrying about her idol or the fact that you're seen as one, and I can't imagine why, by that alien, Kish!"_

"_What are you implying?", Ichigo looked at her directly daring Minto to speak her mind._

"_Maybe we should investigate the fact that he seems to pay so much attention to him. If we're not careful, you may bet – ", she began, but was cut off by a hand on her shoulder._

"_Minto-chan, stop it. You're going too far now.", Akasaka-san uttered calmly. "We don't want this getting out of hand more than it already has. So please, let's just sit back down, and enjoy our tea. Then – " It was now Akasaka-san's turn to be interrupted by Zakuro. She seemed exasperated with the situation. Her first impression wasn't quite the grand one that someone would expect from heroes such as the Mew Mews._

"_Then what?", she spat angrily. "We will sit down again until another one of your petty tantrums break out? That is why I do not want to work with others. It's useless, we're never going to get anything done. It's better if I work alone.", she stated walking away toward the door when Lettuce intercepted her._

"_W-wait! I know I have no right to say this since I've only discovered what the Mew Mews did and that aliens existed, but no one is ever better off alone. Trust me I know how hard it can be to feel so alone sometimes that, even though you're surrounded by others, you're always feeling empty." Lettuce admitted finding courage along her speech. "I won't force you to work with any of them, but, should you know the feeling I'm talking about, working with them will bring you happiness. Because, as long as you're with them you're going to have friends. Everyone's always fighting with each other, but they're always there _for_ each other. So, please, give them a chance to prove to you that they are worthy as allies and most importantly friends." Lettuce finished not daring to move before Zakuro made a choice. After what seemed like an eternity, Zakuro took a step forward and hugged her._

"_I can't imagine what you went through, but you found yourself another friend with that speech of yours. I think it was fate that brought us all together, different parts of one entity.", she murmured in Lettuce's ear. Then she took a step back to let everyone else hear her. "I will work with you and gladly be associated with you, but before that we need to make a plan of action for the next time we face the aliens.", she said smiling for the first time since they all met. "And you can simply call me Zakuro", she directed toward Lettuce who blushed. _

XXX

Lettuce exhaled another sighed. At least she would have friends to return to. Even that might not be true anymore with her cowardly departure.

"Maybe I shouldn't have left like that. Ryou seemed genuinely contrite...", she trailed off still caressing the cat's head. "You know, you make me think of him", she said looking down to the cat. "The way you walked so proudly up to me at first, but still cuddle with me now knowing I need some comfort." She chuckled. "Even the scarf around your neck is like him. He always wear something around his neck... maybe he got a scar there. All in all, do you know what makes me think the most of him when I look at you?", she asked bringing the cat to her eye level. "It's those blue eyes. They're so similar... a clear shade of blue where I could drown myself anytime if I'm not careful. He takes such good care of me, but then rejects me openly. I must have took my fantasies for realities.", she placed the cat once gain in her lap. It was meowing quite loudly now as if to show its disagreeing with her statement or the fact that it was put down. "Maybe I should go back to mend things up with the others at least if not with Ryou", she wondered once again lost in her thoughts.

XXX

_When everyone had settled down at the table for a second time after the hugs and soothing comments from everyone towards Lettuce, they all understood that it was time for seriousness. Lettuce, however, was lost as what her being there used to. Before she could voice any of her doubt though, Ryou took her hand to signify that she was meant to be there and that he wanted her to be there. Lettuce, content to be part of such a big secret, sat back and listened carefully to what was being said._

"_I say we should attack them upfront, not leaving them any time to think of a strategy.", Ichigo proposed._

"_That's a good idea except that we don't know where to find them. Even if we did find them, it would be because they're making another ruckus in town, thus losing the element of surprise since they would already know that we would arrive.", Zakuro corrected._

"_You seem to have a lot of experience in this kind of situation", Ryou said genuinely impressed by her clear view of the situation._

"_I may have encounter them separately some times before", she answered unsure of if it was a good thing or not._

"_Wow! That means you're as powerful as Ichigo. She's the only one of us who can defeat the chimera animals so far", Pudding exclaimed truly amazed._

"_So for further planning, what is the role and power of each one of you, if you don't mind me asking", Zakuro solicited._

"_I'm kind of the leader", Ichigo started._

"_When you act as one", Minto discreetly added, but Ichigo didn't hear her or decided to ignore her and went on._

"_Since I have the power to defeat the chimera animals, I'm usually distracting the aliens when they're there so Minto and Pudding can trap the monsters.", finished Ichigo swiftly. _

"_And we think that we are all able to understand if not talk to the species with which we got our DNA melded with", Minto added. "For example, Ichigo can talk to cats and I can communicate to birds, but it's not an exact theory since Pudding has never met a monkey before."_

"_Oh! But wouldn't that be so cool! Imagine all the tricks we could do!", Pudding said with her usual buoyant energy._

"_Remarkable, I never tried communicating with the canine species.", she thought out loud._

"_As for Ryou and me, we're more of the background researchers. We help when needed, but we're more like an escort dealing with the public.", Akasaka-san pitched in._

"_You're the team, aren't you?", Zakuro said astonishment evident on her face. "And Lettuce what do you do? Your name never was mentioned. Are you more of a background worker also, or on the field fighter?", she then enquired._

"_W-what, m-me?", Lettuce stuttered._

"_No!", Ryou interposed tightening his hold on Lettuce. "She has nothing to do with this, don't bring her into our fight with the aliens." _

_She wouldn't admit it out loud, but Ryou's claim hurt her more than it should've. He was clearly against her Lettuce's input on the problem even though he seemed to want to let her in at first. But it wasn't all. He also talked about the aliens as if she had never faced them. She wasn't considered as part of their team. Whatever step toward the people surrounding the table was all in her imagination. She wasn't their friend not even a companion worth to fight along with. The fact that Ryou only saw her as a weak pitiful _normal_ human being hit her hard, and she hastily let go of his hand. He faced Lettuce his angry stare turning to surprised when he realized she was once again crying out of shame and anger._

"_I'm really that pathetic to you, aren't I?", Lettuce said wrecked. "I can't help out? Even if it's something small, I can be useful...", she said hopeful._

"_Don't worry Lettuce, that's not what Ryou meant", Akasaka-san told her giving a sideway glance at Ryou. "In fact, you may not know it yet, but you're quite – "_

"_Keiichiro don't!", Ryou interjected. The others were going to step up too when Ryou directed a scathing look toward them. They then complied amiably waiting for the proper time to interrupt. "Lettuce, please understand me", he redirected his attention once again at her._

"_U-understand you? B-but, Ryou, that's all I-I've been trying to do and I can't... I can't comprehend why you would push me away like that?", she finally broke down._

"_Look, I'm... you're... not strong enough", he finally exhaled looking down ashamed of himself._

"_I see, Shirogane-san", Lettuce said coldly. Her features were now rigid, her jaw locked and eyes fixing a blind spot in front of her. She calmly got up and walked out. Nothing of the kind hearted and gentle Lettuce could be discerned in those seconds. All she wanted to do, was to get out before she could dig herself a hole even more profound than she was already in. Ryou had openly insulted her and no one had moved an inch to defend her. She was once again left to manage on her own._

_XXX_

"_Ryou! What have you done?", Ichigo yelled completely astounded._

_When Lettuce had left, everyone turned their attention toward Ryou. He still was hunched whit his head in his hands. He didn't dare look up and face the others most certainly and rightfully accusing stares. Once the words had left his mouth he wanted to get them back; not because they were untrue, but because he had expressed himself wrongly. He had promised to himself to protect that girl, he just didn't know how if she was to face danger every other day..._he_ wasn't strong enough to see her put her life in peril even if it was for the sake of the world._

"_You should be ashamed of yourself", Zakuro said unfazed by his imminent distress._

"_Yeah, making such statements to Lettuce was lowly of you", Minto added to Zakuro's comment._

"_Poor Lettuce, I wonder if she'll be alright? She seemed so distressed", Pudding inserted alarmed for Lettuce's well being._

"_Girls, please.", Akasaka-san tried to calm the boiling temper of the Mew Mews. "Ryou", he said, waiting for him to meet his gaze before continuing. "go after her."_

_For once, Ryou got up immediately lifting a hand as a show of his thanks and got out. As soon as the command was uttered, he knew he should've made such a move sooner. Now he wasn't sure which way he should go to look for her. Lucky for him, Lettuce wasn't far, maybe she had hoped he came after her or maybe she was sure he wouldn't, but whatever was the case Ryou reached her swiftly and easily._

"_Lettuce, wait!", he yelled desperately._

"_What do you want, Shirogane-san?", Lettuce also yelled turning around. Her tears were falling freely, but there more of a proof of her anger than anything else. She had hoped to unleash her inner self out, but now that it had peeked out once it couldn't be put off again. "I think we told each other everything we had to say. Excuse-me.", she said walking away once again. However, Ryou stopped her this time before she could flee away from him._

"_Lettuce, it's just all a big misunderstanding. I did not mean tha – ", he began, but lettuce tried to sidestep him to continue on her way. He took hold of her arm, not too tight like Pai, but just enough so that she wouldn't try to get away before he was done. "Lettuce...", he spoke tenderly._

"_Shirogane-san. I cannot and will not hear your excuses right now. You may tell the truth, but for tonight, I just wish to be alone. I had a big day and now I just want to rethink everything that happened to reconnect with reality which is, right now, falling from my grasp. So will you please let me go if I promise to meet you tomorrow?", she asked letting the old Lettuce resurface for an instant._

"_All right, I can do with that. Come by the café tomorrow whenever you're ready.", he let go of her. "I will be there whenever you need me", he murmured in the wind when she was walking away from him. Still, he couldn't let her go alone when she was this distressed, so he did the only thing he could in this situation; he followed her in a way she would never know it was him._

XXX

"I'm really lucky I find you. Ryou was my knight in shining armor, but you are the ever so loyal friend always there to comfort me", she confessed her face in the soft fur.

"So, you are _that_ attracted to the blond boy? Maybe he feels the same for you? Thank you for the new possible threat you've just given us", Pai said smiling at her. "Now, maybe we will be able to finally lay out my master plan", he floated down smirking at a terrified Lettuce and an hissing cat.

XXX

**Sorry for the kind of hang cliff...again. I know sometimes the point of view was fluctuating quite a bit, was it too confusing? I also noticed I'm sometimes alternating between present and past tense, I'll try to remedy to that. I hope it won't stop you from following my story.**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 – The Plan I

**Here's the next chapter... sorry for the delay, again. Hope it is worthwhile though. This chapter should clear some things up and the next one even more. So enjoy and review :D**

XXX

"What do you want? Why are you always after me?", Lettuce said her tone getting more desperate with each sentence. "I have no powers, no abilities like the Mew Mews. So, why don't you just leave me alone.", she snarled her rebel streak not quite completely burned out yet.

"I know I said I like your feistiness, but I think I like you best when you're not so hard to deal with.", Pai said shaking his head in disagreeing with himself

"As if. You know you wouldn't bear it if she was too meek.", Kish said nonchalantly from behind Lettuce.

"What are you doing here, Kish?", angrily said Pai. "I thought I had told you to keep track of the Mew Mews for me while I was dealing with this."

"Don't worry. I sent Tart to do it.", he said with a movement of his hand to brush away the problem. "Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, I say we don't need close inspection on them 24/7."

"And we can trust your opinion on that?", mocked Pai. "If I remember correctly, the Mew Mews are no problem and we shouldn't worry about them escaping you said the last time. And what happened? They untied themselves and ruined my plan!", Pai howled.

"Yes, but _you_ were in charge, so it's _ your_ fault if _your_ plan failed.", Kish almost pouted.

Lettuce, now expert on their behaviour, knew it would take some time before the brawl ended. So she slowly backed away hoping they wouldn't notice her before she had the chance to sprint away from them. Holding tightly to the cat in her arms to stop it from running or attracting attention to them, she took another step backward merely a meter left before she was out of the park. Still, as it would happen i every bad movie, she was stopped before she could make a dash for it.

"Hi! You're Lettuce, right? I'm Tart, nice to meet you!", he said with childlike enthusiasm oddly resembling Pudding's. "I don't think it's a good idea to flee like that. Guys!", he called out.

They were still bickering and Tart had to yell a second time to finally attract their attention. Pai seemed calm and collected at first sight, however when someone was second guessing his judgement they were always in for a ride. That point was proven after he had so gently put Kish back in his place and turned toward Tart, a scowl adorning his features.

"What, again!", he barked. "I'm really tired of all these interruptions."

"Pai, relax. It's just Tart.", Kish said not impressed by the tongue-lashing speech he had just received.

"Tart? What is he doing here? He's supposed to make sure that the Mew Mews won't come here and interrupt me.", Pai said to Kish with contempt. "I should've known better than to delegate to an idiot", he muttered silently.

"So, now I'm an idiot?", Kish snapped back. "It's not my fault if Tart left his post", he tried to put the accusation on the younger one, but naturally it didn't work.

"Stop putting the blame on him, when you're clearly in the wrong.", he said haughtily. "As far as I know, he may be an immature, too short and prone to make friends with the enemies, but at least he's not as lazy as you!", he added condemning.

"Hrm-rm!", he cleared his throat. "_He_ is still here and _he_ stopped your prisoner from escaping", he said clearly annoyed.

"What do you mean _escaping_?", Pai threatened with a sideway glance in Kish's direction. "See what you've done!", he seethed.

"Pai, you should try some herbal tea for your problems... I can't tell if all that's caused by anxiety or just the fact that you're a plain bossy, overachieving and not succeeding chief.", he finished with an exasperated sigh.

"What, you – ", he started, but Lettuce's retracting figure distracting. He then proceeded to block her way once again. "Still trying to flee as I can see? Aren't you tired of this goose chase?", he asked with false concern.

"If you're so tired of running after me, then leave me alone!", Lettuce yelled in his face clutching the cat to her chest.

"Ok, then. Let's terminate this.", he said dramatically. "Kish since you're here, be useful and call forth the chimera cobra again. I don't want to waste all my energy yet in case something turns out wrong."

"As you wish, master Pai", Kish said sarcasm dripping from each words.

"Tart, tie the hostage and do it properly this time.", Pai commanded completely ignoring Kish.

Everyone went to do what they had to do with Pai eyeing proceedings so the outcome would turn out in their favour, when what they took as the easy part of the plan turned against them. Knowing that it was the end, Lettuce let go of the cat hoping it could save itself, and faced the tart bravely. However, instead of jumping on the ground and fleeing, as Lettuce thought it would do, it went flying out of her arms directly in Tart's face. It scratched its enemy to the blood not once losing its grip on the alien. When the cat finally jumped down, Tart was badly injured on his face and arms.

"You've been defeated by a little cat, Tart?", Kish sniggered. "Maybe you're too young to be out on the field", he continued to mock.

"If you're any better Kish, do it yourself", Tart snapped back.

"That's exactly what I was going to do", Kish replied confidently.

While Kish approached the cat without putting up any defence, Pai stayed on the sidelines analyzing everything. First Kish got his blades out and aimed at the smaller creature. However, before he could summon any attack the cat jumped and bit Kish's arms, thus making loose hold of his weapons. Crying in pain, Kish tried to kick it this time. With its agility, it easily leaped out of the way, making the alien lose his equilibrium and fall flat on his back. Not more advanced then the start, Pai let out an exasperated sigh not quite so discreet.

"If we're boring you so much, Pai, don't let ourselves stop you from interfering", Kish said now completely annoyed.

"How predictable...", Pai sighed. "You've only tried twice and you get annoyed at me, because you've failed. Maybe you should try to practice your fighting skills instead of flirting with every pink Mew Mew you meet."

On that, Pai quickly soared toward the cat getting his fans out. He easily dodged the animal's attack and made it whirled into a brick wall with his Kuu Rai Sen attack. Not believing that they so unlucky as to be interrupted by a mere cat, he decided to take matters in his own hands.

"Kish! Tart!", he yelled. "You two are really useless, so just go whatever you two do in your free time and leave me alone to take care of this. NOW!", he commanded when none of them made a move to leave.

Finally, when they got out of his sight, Pai returned his attention on Lettuce for the umpteenth time that day. First verifying that the cat was still no threat and that no one was lurking in the dark, he summoned once again the giant chimera cobra.

Lettuce was utterly scared at this moment, any bravery she had felt before was completely gone. She had thought of fleeing when she had seen that the aliens were losing against the cat, but she was reluctant to leave it alone. It may just be a cat, but it had listened to her – the best way a cat could listen to someone – and it had thrown itself in the fight for her, at least she thought it was for her. Nevertheless, it was thing the closest thing to a friend she presently had, and she didn't want to abandon it at such a crucial time when it could suffer immensely. So when it had been thrown against the brick fence surrounding the park, she hastily ran toward the small body. Kneeling she assessed its injuries, and when she saw that it was just passed out she breathed a sigh of relief. She hoped it would be as strong as Ryou and that it would suffer no further harm. However, she was still in it pretty deep, because, when she looked up, the cobra was once again overshadowing her. Now that she was completely alone against the chimera and the alien, she lost all hope of getting out of the situation. At last, she saw Pai making a sign at the beast to attack her, and her last thought went for Ryou.

'_I'm so sorry Ryou. I hope you'll be happy, my hero...'_

XXX

"What is taking them so long!", Ichigo said sounding desperate. "I hope Ryou apologized, or I'll –"

"Calm down Ichigo.", Zakuro soothed. "The guy cares too much about her to let anything come between the two of them, it's evident.", she reasoned.

"You have such an insight on relationships, Zakuro-san" Minto was in awe in front of her idol, but Akasaka-san coughed loudly popping Minto's bubble of admiration.

"Now that we've figured Zakuro's stunning abilities, maybe we should go and check on the both of them.", Akasaka-san said a little bit harshly. However, as soon as the words were out he directed a small apologetic smile in Zakuro's direction. "Sorry, it wasn't my intention to be so ruthless.", he said contrite.

"Don't worry, it's been a long day and we're all tired", she forgave with a knowing smile. "However, I believe you are right Akasaka-san, we should go look out for them"

"I agree, but where should we start with?", Ichigo asked. "We don't even know which direction they took."

"I know! I'll use my super sense of smell to track them", Pudding said starting to sniff around.

"Pudding, I'm sorry to tell you that, but you're merged with a golden lion tamarind... not a dog", Minto said kindly in fear of hurting the younger one's feelings.

"True, true...", she thought aloud. "Why don't Zakuro do it instead then?", her face illuminating with joy at forming plan.

"Zakuro-san's DNA is fused with a grey wolf, not a mere stray dog", Minto said this time with more bite in her comment.

"Minto, calm down", she said trying to calm everyone before the situation got out of hand once again. "In truth, I think it could work..."

"Yes, the sense of smell is the most developed one in a wolf", Akasaka-san finished.

Minto eyed the two older team members thinking something was going on between the two of them. Yet, she didn't have time to interpret that gnawing feeling in her stomach, because, just then, Ichigo jumped up from her chair demanding their attention.

"Then, what are we waiting for? Let's go!", she said urging them towards the door.

XXX

They followed Zakuro outside where Lettuce's and Ryou's smell lead her just around the café. However, after that Ryou's smell changed. It was still the same, but it had a more powerful animal musk to it. Since it didn't diverge that much from the original one, she thought that maybe he was overwhelm by his instincts at the time. They continued on their way lead by Zakuro . They got 2 or 3 blocks away before stopping near a park.

"Are they here?", Ichigo asked murmuring so as to not perturbed Zakuro's concentration. "Why are we stopping?"

"Something is wrong", she said as low as Ichigo, her face scrunched up all the while. "Ryou's scent has gone bland as if he'snot responding to anything anymore, and I can't smell Lettuce. At least not as clearly as I did before, it's like she is under water or something.", she stated.

"What do you mean?", Pudding enquired with worry. "Did something happen to them?", she said slightly augmenting the tone of her voice.

"Shh!", Zakuro instructed. "I can't tell you what is going on, but I know they are in the park"

"Then, you should transform, girls. Just in case", Akasaka-san said with a note of worry in his voice.

They all transformed, then immediately regrouped to form a plan of action. They were all blind as to what was going on in the park, but Zakuro had succeeded to pick up a new odour when the wind had passed them by and they now knew that an alien was also there. Even with the new information, they still couldn't throw themselves in blindly. It was then decided, that Akasaka-san was to go in alone first with the girls following closely behind. He was to act as a decoy; entering the park as if searching for Lettuce and Ryou completely oblivious to the happenings in there. It wouldn't ask of him amazing acting skills since he was truly going there in search of their two missing team members without knowing what was happening. Once Zakuro made sure that there was only one alien, they proceeded with the plan.

"Lettuce! Ryou!", he called aloud. Akasaka-san entered the park with all senses on alert. He just passed the gate when he heard a faint mewing sound. Turning around, Akasaka-san gasped in horror at the sight of the small furry ball. "Oh, no! What happened to you", he said kneeling in front of the cat.

Without much insight on what was going on in the park, the girls entered after hearing Akasaka-san gasp. Minto was the first to arrive on the scenes, the others following closely. Yet, when she saw the small cat, she was seething.

"You worried us for a cat!", she cried out. She couldn't believe it. Sure Akasaka-san was a gentle soul, but to the point of gasping in horror from an injured cat, that was too much.

"Little one", Zakuro interrupted with a hand on her arm. "It is not just a cat, is it?", she said meeting Akasaka-san eyes.

Before anything could be revealed, Pudding, who had wandered away, arrived barging in the conversation with the discretion of an elephant.

"Guys! Guys!", she yelled softly eyes wide. "I found Pai! He's in the clearing just behind those trees. And he's not alone"

They all walked to where Pudding was pointing still hiding behind the coverage of the trees. In the clearing, floating calmly as if he was taking a stroll in the park, was Pai. He faced them, but someone was partially hiding him. From the look of it, it was a girl with long and dark green hair hanging down her back. When Akasaka-san finally arrived, cat in arms, they noticed the chimera cobra, lifeless, completely drained of its venom. The girls knew it was the same one at the previous fight, they just it hadn't gotten to Lettuce or Ryou. In any case, by the state of it, it must have and it must also have injected all its poison. However, it seemed they were not as discreet as they thought, because just then Pai looked around the girl in front of him and pinned in stare on them.

"Well, who do we have here?", he asked clearly amused. "You've arrived just in time!"

Ready to fight the alien for some answers, the girls took a combat stance. As they were preparing to attack, the cat jumped out of Akasaka-san's arms towards the aliens. Pai saw it leaped from the trees and, knowing its _mode opératoire_,was ready to dodge its attack. However, it was a surprise to him when it transformed during its jump. Then, instead of having been pound on by a cat, he had human Ryou pinning him on the ground. Mere seconds later, he was once again free though. Pai's companion had grabbed Ryou by the collar, and had thrown him off from the alien. With brute force, the girl had tossed Ryou back with the others.

"So, what do you think of my new creation?", Pai asked around. "Isn't she beautiful and powerful!", he added like a father proud of his child. "Lettuce, come and say hello to the Mew Mews..."

XXX

**I know worst place to end... but the second part should be up by Monday if everything goes as planned. Now are some of your inquiries answered?**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 – The Plan II

**Sorry – again – for the delay. But this chapter is longer and has more contain, so forgive me? :D**

**Also, I just wanted to thank you all for the support you showed in this story so far. I always get the impression that my plot is predictable, but seeing all your reviews and the alerts for this story has made me more confident in my abilities. Since I'm more comfortable with my writing, I'll try to develop more of everyone's point of views too.**

XXX

Lettuce, or at least the evilly transformed one, turned slowly towards the Mew Mews. She was striking as Lettuce would be if she took the time to. Her dark green hair was flowing in the wind freely, only for the strands to be stopped by two pointed ears – much like the aliens – pierced by two golden rings. From the tip of an illicium, sprouting from her forehead, was an escal bulb bathing her features in an eerie light*. Under the lighting, her cheekbones were prominent and her still blue eyes glowing with contempt. What were once showing love and kindness, were now cold as ice, pupils in a slit. Her eyes weren't the only thing that got darker, her clothing did too. Instead of the light colors you would be used to seeing Lettuce in, everything was now darker. She had a choker the same color as her hair with black lace, and a garter on her arms and left leg in that looked like seaweed or meticulously made fabric. Her corset was a lighter green, however stripes of petrol like color were adorning it pooling down at her waist like a black belt. Then, it spread around her in a skirt ending mid thigh. At her feet were brownish-black boots with specks of green as if looking at the sun from underneath swamped water.

Her change was even more impressive than the time she did after the Trio of Doom's period. They were all gaping at her again, but with fear in their sight now. No one knew what to say. It was clearly Lettuce in front of them, still mildly recognizable, but at the same time completely different; more cold, indifferent... alien. All kinds of thoughts were running through the multiple heads, ones from fear, sadness and doubt;

'_What happened to you Lettuce-chan...'_

'_Is Lettuce onee-chan going to hurt us? Why?'_

'_I should've known the aliens weren't done yet!'_

'_Why didn't we followed her right away, we should've protected her more.'_

'_Was she with them since the beginning? No, it can't be...'_

'_I'm sorry, Lettuce. I broke my promise, and now this happened because of me...' _

Pai was entirely oblivious or indifferent to those thoughts, He was starting to get bored, and, most importantly, impatient to show off his new creation. After much planning, failing, stalking, fighting, and all things -ing, he finally succeeded in striking the Mew Mews where they were the weakest; their friendship. They always depended on one another, and now that one of them, the weakest of them, was working with him, he could finally get what he wanted. The Mew Mews hindered his plans one too many times, they would now suffer for putting his planet into peril. They had come to Earth for one thing, and they wouldn't let themselves be distracted from their mission by little girls. He flew behind Lettuce and put a hand on her shoulder to restrain her. He knew that with some of her human emotions still present, she would strive to use the power she suddenly acquired.

"Are we past the surprised part now?", he said trying to take things further. "Because there is more to come"

Ryou was seeing red, almost hissing between his teeth. His cat instinct were starting to gain control over him again. He tried to calm down, but seeing _his_ hand on _her _nude shoulder was pushing him over the edge. He didn't accuse Lettuce for becoming evil, he she had been forced, but he's been forever trying to meet her gaze. However each time he thought he caught it, she would sneer at him and look away. It was as if she didn't knew him, like they never talked to each other, laughed together, held hands, shared a shower ... He couldn't brag about being something in her eyes that would change her back to the old Lettuce he loved. They were only friends and even of that he wasn't sure anymore. How could he have let her fall in the hands of the aliens? He shouldn't have made her feel left out of the Mew Mews duties. She was – _is_ – one of them. He was only a coward, afraid to see her get hurt and look what it did to her. He sighed trying for another time to catch her gaze completely unaware of the feelings he just admitted to himself.

"More to come?" Zakuro couldn't take it anymore. "We'll defeat you like we did before!", she yelled in outrage.

"And what about Lettuce", Pai said with false sadness. "You'll just abandon her to her lonely fate and kill her?"

The girls gasped in horror, but Zakuro knew better. She was not the kind to fall for reversed, already thought in advance psychology. She had been alone most of her life and she had strayed in the shadowed if not dark part of life. However, she knew that hurting a friend, even if that friend could not see the light, was not an option. To date, what she had seen of Lettuce was all light, love and compassion. She was weak when it came to herself, but when it came to helping others no one was comparable. After seeing the length she went only to help Ryou, it was enough to say that she had a compliant soul. Zakuro rarely took notice of someone's kindness, but Lettuce's was radiating off her like a second skin. Even from the short time they knew each other, she considered the green haired girl almost like a sister. The desire to protect someone kindred was also deeply rooted in her. So that is why she didn't hesitate before fighting for Lettuce.

"I- _we_ will not abandon our friend. _She_ will be the one defeating you!", she said certainty.

"Oh! You seem to really believe what you say...", Pai chuckled softly. "Well, everyone need a dream"

"And _you_ think what you're doing is justified?", Minto interjected. "You think we'll just let you do whatever you want? ", she spat.

"You have no right to judge me!", he retorted hotly. "Me and my brothers are doing everything in our powers to save our kind. And what are you lot doing? You're powerless humans getting in our way", he seethed directly in front of Minto's face.

The girls tightened their rank around Minto to show their support. They were six against two, more like five since Akasaka-san couldn't do much by himself and Ryou wasn't at his full abilities just yet. However, their relief was short lived, because with whatever link was going on between the aliens, it had alarmed Kish and Tart and the enemy was now of equal number. The two newly arrived aliens took Pai by each side and ushered him back to his initial position. They marvelled for one second at what Pai had succeeded to do. He not only had the perfect bargain against the Mew Mews, he had also mixed their DNA with a human.

"So, brother dear", Kish said. "It looks like your plan finally came to life", he added amazed.

"Is she like one of us now?", asked Tart intrigued. "Did you really managed to combine human and alien DNA?"

No one of the Mew Mews had considered the repercussions of Lettuce's new transformation, but hearing the facts out loud was like a slap in their faces. It was Akasaka-san who was mainly affected by such a discovery. He had worked closely with Ryou's parents on human and animal DNA, but never would they have imagined that it could be entwined with such a foreign species was unbelievable. If they had known of such properties to merged completely and – even though he hoped not – irrevocably, maybe Ryou's mother wouldn't have died without, at least, a bigger fight. Before she had died, she had Keiichiro promised to look after her husband and son, but everything had took a bitter turned after her death. Ryou's father wasn't himself anymore, and Ryou himself was deeply suffering right at this moment. If the sickly worried look Ryou wore wasn't any indication of how he felt, Akasaka-san didn't know what would. He wanted him to be happy and despite the usual, kind of dangerous, cave-ins – like researching DNA or wandering the black market in Russia when he was twelve – he strived to protect him. It's not like he could make him forget his pain too. But even then, he couldn't decipher the reason Lettuce would turn evil. Since the beginning of their researched they had known that some criteria had to be respected to set off a transformation. First, they needed a specific code on their double helix. Second, they had to be opened to the change. He knew that Lettuce was a Mew Mew, so the alteration in her DNA wasn't impossible. However, what unnerved him was the fact that she had been somewhat opened to the change. Still, it couldn't have happened without some of Lettuce's old characteristic remaining.

"She'll never completely be one of yours.", Akasaka-san said calmly. "Zakuro may not be wrong about Lettuce defeating the aliens", he added more softly for the benefit of the others.

"And who are you to second judge my experimentation?", Pai asked with open curiosity.

"I am Akasaka Keiichiro, a scientist in the field of DNA", he said advancing to put the spotlight on himself and try to act as a distraction.

"Impressive", Kish mocked flying in front of Akasaka-san. "And how has all this knowledge pushed you to arrive to that conclusion?"

"I think your brother knows the answer to that question. He surely could explain it more clearly than me", he smiled."I wouldn't want to confuse even more than you already seemed to be"

Tart was looking at the exchange from afar. He hadn't want to interfere at first. When Pai had asked them to leave, Kish had forced him to stay, not too far, but just out of sight and hearing of Pai's. In truth, he had wanted to just go and try to call the base. They had lost contact and now there didn't seem to be a living soul at the other side of the line. If they didn't find what they needed soon, there planet would be completely destroyed. Everyone was already in great peril, it was no use to extend their suffering. As always however, Pai took great time planning and Kish was just unpredictable. He had set on this mission with his brothers quite expectantly, but happy to be with them and no one else. Now, their bond had only slowed them down. They had became too confident over time. Their research was delayed and almost hadn't advanced more than when they've first arrived. And now, they just had another _thing_ to distract them. Sure, she could present herself helpful when in need of sidetracking the Mew Mews, but, in any other way, she would only distract Pai with his understanding of the DNA and Kish with a plan to get nearer a certain Mew Mew.

"Kish!", Tart yelled before a fight would start. "We should go see what Pai want to do", he murmured in warning.

"Oh, well!", Kish then said dramatically. "Looks like it's all the times we've got kitty cat", he added blowing kiss toward Mew Ichigo.

"No, it's not!", she replied angrily. "We've never had time together and we'll never have! I'm not one of yours and so is Lettuce!", she yelled with tears in her eyes.

Since Lettuce had turned around, she had watched everything occur in front of her like in a movie. She couldn't believe what was in front of her. Sure, she may not have been a scientist like Akasaka-san or the IQ of Ryou, but she knew that it couldn't really be Lettuce in front of her. At least, it had to be a dream. If sweet Lettuce had really turned against them _and_ Ryou – they clearly had a connection, anyone with eyes could see that – it meant that the aliens had somewhat gain more powers. And more powers to the aliens meant more fierce battles, more lives at stake and more chance to lose once and for all. She was supposed to be the chief, but not even a day after getting Lettuce involved in their troubles, the latter had been captured and turned evil. If she truly had been a chief, she would've known that the aliens would still come after them. She should have gone after Lettuce the moment she had ran out. Not only a leader would have done so, but a friend too. No wonder Lettuce had turned against them, they weren't worth... _she _ wasn't worth her friendship. She had let her down wholly, but she'd be damned if she wasn't going to fight with everything she had to bring her back.

"Girls! We have to fight for Lettuce! We can't let ourselves be defeated without trying to get her back!", Ichigo yelled almost like a battle cry.

"We won't", Minto added confidently. "We'll come after them until we get everything like it,s meant to be."

"Wait.", Akasaka-san said. "Don't you want to know?"

"Know what?", Minto seethed after him.

She respected Akasaka-san and cared for him, but right now he was getting on her nerves. Lettuce was now part of the enemy because of her misjudgement, and he wanted to _wait_ to learn something about the DNA. It didn't make any sense and Lettuce's well being wasn't worth putting her life in more peril than it may already be in. She was supposed to act calm and prevent any of the alien's plans from getting into gear. She should have known that they wouldn't let down after their last defeat. If only she had listened to the warnings of the birds instead of focusing her attention on her petty idolization of Zakuro-san. She should have known that this time, the aliens would try to defeat them with a bigger, wicked plan. When the chimera cobra had appeared the city birds had flown away even more fearfully than usual. If she had paid attention, she would've noticed. If she didn't save sweet and caring Lettuce, she would only have the blame and shame to live with.

"How they managed to merge a third DNA to her double helixes.", Akasaka-san finally answered sheepishly. "It could help us to get Lettuce back", he added to justify his delaying.

"He is right", Zakuro simply said when she saw that Minto was going to argue again. The look of betrayal from both Zakuro and Akasaka-san that showed in Minto's eyes was unbearable and they both looked down. However, they weren't the only one to think alike.

"You all should know that we don't have another choice than to wait and throw ourselves into battle. There's a risk to hurt Lettuce when we don't know what is truly affecting her.", Ryou said, his voice firm, but cleared with underlying pain. No one could go against his judgement. He had been there when Lettuce had transformed, and more than anyone else he felt the blame heavy on his shoulder.

"So, you've listen to the voice of reason and decided not to fight?", Pai said hauntingly. "There may be hope for humans then. Anyway, it's not you we are after... it's something present on your planet."

"Maybe we shouldn't tell them too much...", Kish trailed off.

"Nonsense". Pai ignored his comment with a vague movement of hand. "Even if they know about the Blue Aqua, it's not as if they knew how to use it. Anyhow, as I said, we are after something on your planet called Blue Aqua. This water has infinite properties which will allow us to save our planet."

Kish grumbled at that. If Pai was going to reveal everything, first it could take a while and second the Mew Mews would know too much about them. They one another many times, but each time they were sure not to reveal anything that would weaken them in the eyes of the Mew Mews. If ever they were to discover their history and mission on Earth, he wasn't sure they would get the element of surprise against them. They would be able to predict all their attack, and their side plans would get even more disturbed. They would search for the same thing, and if the Mew Mews found the Blue Aqua before them, he wasn't sure they weren't smart enough to use it. But most of all, he was tired of fighting. He had hoped to get rid of the mission hastily when they had first been briefed on the mission. However, now, he was always trying to lengthen the duration of their stay. A pink Mew Mew had caught his attention and he couldn't seem to get out of his head. Every time they met he was oddly attracted to her. If only he was born human or her Cyniclon. But here they were; enemies and she wouldn't even give him the time of the day. So even if he had a way to make her sway their side, thanks to Lettuce, he wasn't sure it would work. He wasn't even sure he wanted it to work. He would've preferred it if she came willingly by his side.

"We are Cyniclons", Pai went on. "On our planet we are..."

"Pariahs", Tart finished for him disgusted.

"But, why?", Pudding asked incredule.

Tart was always full of energy, but right now he seemed down and disgusted. Pudding was worried about him. He was the only one around her age – the others almost being adults – and even though he was the enemy, she couldn't help but feeling linked to him by that. If he was also fighting, it meant he was also understanding what she felt about it all. Everyone should just get along, and fighting was only loss time for playing. If everything went her way no one would need to battle, and that was what troubled her the most. She had been certain Lettuce had felt the same way. She had heard about the Trio of Doom and how Lettuce pleaded with them stop their bickering and harassing. Seeing Lettuce on the other side, throwing Ryou away without care, was hurting her. Lettuce understood love, happiness and friendship, but if she was against them, it meant that it didn't mean anything to her. That was the part that lost Pudding. Lettuce couldn't be evil, the events of the day had proven that. Then, if Lettuce wasn't bad, but on the other side what did it mean? At least, the others seemed sure to be able to save her and that was what she counting on, and if discovering more about the aliens would help, she would do so.

"Our family was consisted of the two most intelligent scientists on our planet; our parents", Kish took turn at the story. "When our planet started to dry under the sun, everyone turned to our parents"

"But why was your planet drying?", asked Ichigo quizzically.

"Our planet was old, older than earth by millennias. At some point, its rotation slowed down also slowing the natural magnetic field surrounding it.", Pai took over for the scientific jargon. "The sun was then becoming too harsh, and the planet inhabitable if we didn't do anything fast."

"By then, our parents had found a water with immense properties.", Tart continued with what he remembered. "With the heat of the sun, the water had dried, but only the impurities had dried off in this one. What was left was the purest liquid ever found."

"With some research, they discovered that it could not only help our kind by treating injuries, it could also make plants grow, and cleanse the air.". It was now Kish's turn. "However, many with power sought the Blue Aqua for themselves. At long last, the government took matters in its own hands and asked our parents if they could remedy to the entire planet's situation."

"During their experimentation, they discovered that the Blue Aqua could easily the sun's heat and re-establish a liveable situation on the planet.", Pai added. "However, with all the test and fighting over the Blue Aqua, they had to use whatever was left of it. They then created a launcher to cast the Blue Aqua directly in the sun."

"The idea wasn't acclaimed by all and some try to steal it. It was not until the day of the launching that things turned out for the worst", Tart spat bitterly. "Everyone had amassed to witness the day it would all end, but when it was finally launched it missed."

"How did you know?", Ryou asked, suspicious.

"It was supposed to be an instant reaction.", Pai sighed. "Whenever our parents experienced something it happened right away."

"But burning down a complete sun may took more time", Zakuro interjected.

"Maybe, but nothing happened, we went to see in the lab what went wrong.", Kish said, his anger rising. "When we arrived, everything was a mess, and our parents were... dead."

"They had barely managed to sent the Blue Aqua before whoever came took it away.", Pai said. "However, in their precipitation, the coordinated were altered and instead of cooling our sun, it got to Earth."

"All the fault was rejected on us", Tart added after a pause. If they started to tell, they would tell everything. "We were blamed for the throw that was missed when our parents were murdered. Instead of searching for a culprit, we were send to Earth to retrieve the Blue Aqua."

"It was a suicidal mission", Kish continued. "If our people were capable of throwing droplets of water into space, they weren't so sure about alive persons."

"And since we were already pariahs with no one caring about what happened to us, we were the ones sent out on the mission.", Pai said. "At first, they only needed two people, but we didn't want to leave Tart alone as an outsider, so we went all together in the end.", he finished, ruffling his brother's hair.

It was the closer anyone had seen them act as brothers. They were finishing each other's sentences instead of quarrelling, and they really looked like brother in their moment of reminiscence. Everyone was still a little bit suspicious as the truthfulness of their story, but looking at them you could hardly doubt them. However, before anyone could sympathize or treat the aliens as liars, Lettuce acted for the first time since flinging Ryou across the clearing.

Lettuce was in a haze since the start. She had acted at first on instinct when she had seen Pai pounded on the ground. Everything in him had yelled _'Kin!'_ to her, and she had acted. After that, everything was a little muddled. She knew they were talking about her and about the Cyniclon's history, but she couldn't absorb any information. She looked around her, and knew that the ones with pointy ears, the same ones as hers, were family... she could feel it from within. However, the ones staying on the grounds were familiar, but not known. When she took the time to analyze them, flashes exploded in her eyes; vivid images and emotions, but with no sound. She could see three girls laughing at what seemed her, feeling rejected by the two guys on the ground discussing in a basement, the blue girl looking at her with a look of disdain in her face, all of them sitting at a table and not moving as she ran out of a café almost crying and worst of all the blond boy yelling at her and her feeling utterly useless with a ache in her heart. She didn't know who the people... humans were, but she was sure they were enemies. She was finally regaining her senses, and when they seemed at their weakest she decided to attack the humans.

She called forth her powers, and waves of water appeared before her, drowning the humans. They caught in a fish tank of water without the glasses and big enough for a whale. They couldn't swim out of it since it had its own current, and they couldn't fight either since they couldn't use their voice to call their powers. They were stuck and they were going to die by Lettuce's hands.

"Lettuce, stop!", Kish yelled.

Pai sighed. They had them, but Kish interfered. True, he didn't really want to kill the humans. And yes, they unnerved him, but he only wanted to incapacitate them until they found what they needed. Lettuce looked at them judging them from afar. After a while she shrugged the water let down. She didn't want to fight her kin, and she believed she would get plenty other chances. They were now back to square one and a half. The aliens had Lettuce, but they were still stuck at not knowing what to do.

It seemed that the decision would be made for them. After seeing Lettuce act all evilly, the Mew Mews remembered that she had been transformed by the aliens and their status of enemy – even though it slightly shifted toward victim after their story – was re-establish. They took battle pose eyeing Lettuce for any sight of her old self surfacing. After minutes of staring, glaring and all eye contact that could divulge anyone's hatred, Pai had enough like always.

"Why don't we all take a break and meet again another time? We are all tired, and it'll give you time to think everything over, right?", he proposed. "Anyway, agreeing or not we're going, so later...", he said before disappearing. All the others followed suit, leaving the Mew Mews totally flabbergasted. They hadn't had a chance to retrieve Lettuce who had openly attacked them, and they didn't know exactly what the aliens were planning next.

XXX

***the illicium and escal bulb are the technical term (that I didn't succeed in putting in lesser words) for the things elongating the mouths of the fish usually and the light at the end of it. Some types of abyssal fish have those as a trap... if you've seen Finding Nemo one of the fish they meet has one of those, but sprouting from its forehead in that case. Hope it's clear enough, if ever it's not just google it.**

**I know my endings always suck, but huh... that's how it is. **

**I tried not to change Lettuce's outfit too much from the original one, but just turn it slightly more devilish. Also, the story line is not the same as the manga or the anime... it is similar-ish, but I added some things to it if you hadn't already noticed. :D**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 – The Visit

**Okay, here's the next chapter. Aren't I kind, putting it up within 24 hours? Truth be told I had it in mind, and it's shorter. Anyway, I put more action between Ryou and Lettuce here, even though it's not that much. The next chapter will take things even further, but for now enjoy... :D**

XXX

Ryou was pacing, making a hole in the floor of his room. The café was open, but he couldn't yet seem to mingle and socialize. They were meant to search for Lettuce, not keep appearances up. They needed to try to talk to her and make her see reason. If she had attacked them without even blinking, it meant that they had to act swiftly before it was too late. Her DNA was merged with two other ones; the alien's and an animal's, aquatic it would seem. They needed to bring her back; his sweet, caring, ever so compassionate and kind Lettuce.

That morning he had woken up late postponing the moment to get up and see that Lettuce hadn't arrived. She was usually the first to appear on the café's doorstep on the week-end to help him open, but this time was not the case. He knew that she wouldn't come anymore, but it didn't mean that he wanted to face it anyway. At least until they brought her back. He knew he should tell the others about Lettuce's impromptu visit in the middle of the night, but for now he only wanted to remember how much fun they had working closely only the two of them together.

XXX

_Ryou was roused with a start. He was sure he had heard someone knocking on the door. He turned around and looked at the clock, it was only eight o'clock and they didn't open before nine. It was usually Ichigo who opened on the week-end, but she always came at the last minute adjusting everything in between the clients. It seemed that today she was eager to work. He finally got up, when the knocking stopped. If Ichigo had finally came to her senses and arrived early, he wasn't the one who was going to push her away for doing her job for once. So he hurried to the door without caring for his clothing or lack of clothing in this case. He arrived at the door just as the girl was walking down the alley of the café. However, it wasn't Ichigo who had came around early._

"_Wait, don't go!", Ryou said holding the door opened._

_Lettuce had heard the bells before she the call. However, she didn't dare turn around. Ichigo had asked her to open up for her, but hadn't given her any information on how or when to do it. All she knew is that they opened at nine, so she took a chance and arrived an hour early. She had forgotten at first that Ryou was probably still sleeping and when no one answered or came to open, she finally remembered that fact. So now, she was beet red, her back to him not daring to turn around in case of seeing an angry Ryou just roused out of sleep._

"_I-I'm s-sorry, Shirogane-san", she said meekly her back still to him._

"_Lettuce don't worry about it. Habitually it's Ichigo who opens on the week-end and she's not one to get up with the sun.", he said apologetically._

"_It's okay. I-I can come back if you prefer.", she proposed._

"_You don't need to", he chuckled. "Why don't you just turn around and come in? I'll help you. Knowing Ichigo she mustn't have gave you any details about what to do.", he thought aloud._

"_O-okay, If you don't mind", she said softly turning around and getting by him rapidly._

_He chuckled softly at her embarrassed demeanour and followed her inside. He had stayed up late the night before to do some research on the aliens and hadn't found anything again. He was starting to get frustrated with all the research, but except the fact that they weren't from Earth, the aliens still stayed a mystery to them. He was lacking sleep and getting restless by the lack of answers. Yet, the presence of Lettuce and her personality was cheering him up and he found himself up to the work once again._

"_I don't", he smiled. Then he clapped his hand ready to get things started. "So let's get to work!"_

"_Um... maybe you'd want to get d-dress?", she offered even more flustered._

_Lettuce was purposefully looking at some point behind Ryou. She couldn't look him in the eyes and she would never let herself get caught at admiring his body. She already knew he was well shaped from the shower incident, but drooling over him would get her into an even more embarrassing position than the last one. Something on his neck suddenly draw her attention, but finally noticing his state of undress – he always slept with only the strict minimum, so when there was an emergency he could easily put something on and run – Ryou went upstairs slightly blushing and promising not to be long. Thinking he maybe had a birthmark on his neck, Lettuce tucked the information away for later confirmation and waited. _

_Then, while she waiting for Ryou to get dressed, Lettuce decided to change too. Since she would have to do it for the job, why delay for later what you could do right now? With that in mind, she went to the locker's room and put on her uniform. However, when she searched for her apron it was gone. She didn't panic, because it was only an apron, but she was slightly over the meter of nervousness. She thought she had lost the apron, and she knew how Akasaka-san had put so much effort in sewing it for her. She didn't want to cause any more problems what with the Trio of Doom incident, but she knew she had to tell Ryou about it. It's not like she could hide the fact that she was missing her apron, or that she could sew one with nothing and in less than 5 minutes. She took a big gulp of air and entered the café ready to face Ryou._

_At first, Ryou noticed how cute Lettuce would look into a dress. True, it was the same uniform as usual, but without the frilly white garment it was more casual. The green really suited her, complimenting her hair. Her endless legs even more endless in her short dress, and the small of her waist – where he was sure his hand would fit perfectly at the back – made her look breathtaking. He shook his head. He was gaping at Lettuce and his thought didn't even make any sense, Keiichiro would laugh at the loss of his usual cool demeanour. Aware of her suddenly, more-than usual, upset conduct, Ryou, as a caring person for everyone's well being – okay, maybe more when it concerned a green haired girl – asked her what was wrong._

"_You can tell me everything, Lettuce", he insisted._

"_W-well, I t-think I've lost the... um... apron...", she confessed in a small voice._

"_That's all?", he chuckled. "Don't worry, Keiichiro took everyone's. He said something about updating the uniform.", he added quickly in fear of hurting his frail friendship with her. _

_She didn't seem totally comfortable with him yet and he didn't want to scare her away since he had to look after her. She may not know it yet, but one day she would have to face great dangers. For now, he wanted to keep her safe._

"_R-right. I was worried I lost it, and added even more work on Akasaka-san's shoulders who already cooks all day for the café. And then I was also concerned that you wouldn't be happy about it, since I've got this really cute uniform for not even a month yet and I had already lost it, but then I wouldn't have mind sewing another one or paying for one either. If you don't think my sewing skills are enough to create such a fine things with all those frills and - ... I'm rambling again.", she finished in a small voice, flushing._

"_As I said, don't worry about anything, Lettuce.", Ryou reassured. "Anyway, I think it's cute, it suits you."_

"_Um... t-thanks Shirogane-san", she stuttered._

"_Lettuce, what have I told you? You can call me Ryou, I won't get offended and everyone calls me that", he smiled._

"_B-but I-I couldn't!", she said with big eyes. _

_Seeing her agitated over only a name, Ryou had to laugh again. His laugh was a deep rumble coming from within, and Lettuce was kind of proud of getting such a reaction of happiness out of Ryou. Sure, he was laughing because of something she did, but it didn't feel like when the Trio of Doom was mocking her. It was more affectionate and she was certain that if she asked him to stop he would. So she remained standing there, waiting for Ryou to calm down... her own smile gracing her lips._

"_Okay", he wheezed completely out of breath to continue laughing. "Let's get to work before it's too late. Here you are ready for work and arriving early and I'm distracting you."_

"_It doesn't bother me. I could be in worst company", she said boldly with a flush._

_Ryou once again laughed at her small try of humour and couldn't help but find it endearing._

_Akasaka-san had arrived early also to put back the aprons, when he had stumbled on Ryou's and Lettuce's exchange. He couldn't help but spy on the two of them. It's been so long since he had at last seen Ryou so carefree and he was glad that Lettuce had appeared in their lives._

::: ::: :::

Lettuce was stuck in some kind of spaceship with the aliens. It was dull and creepy. The ship was damaged pretty badly and no one had seen fit to repair it yet. There were only the rooms and the cockpit in good shape. Since their arrival, Tart had tried to contact their home planet, Kish had disappear and Pai had shut himself in his lab to plan their next move. At first, Lettuce had tried to sleep, however the beds – if the rectangular protuberance made of metal could be called beds – weren't comfortable at all. Completely restless she had tried to get out, but Pai had stopped her telling her to stay put. With school and the café Mew Mew out of the way, she didn't have anything to let her mind wander on though. During her sleepless hours of boredom, she had discovered that she could change back into human if she wanted, and she had formed a plan to exploit this new found abilities. Locking Pai into his room, knowing he wouldn't notice anything before it was too late and easily passing by Tart, Lettuce got out at last. Now, all she needed was a new wardrobe and make an impromptu visit to some old friends.

XXX

First stop was Aya, the leader of the Trio of Doom. Her memories were getting clearer and clearer by the day and she knew she wanted revenge on that girl. For her, Lettuce had decided to go plainly as her old self. When she appeared in Aya's room in the middle of the night, she only floated over her at first while sending evil vibrations in her direction. She was pleased to see that her dream was turning to nightmare, however she got bored of it and summoned water, _cold water_, and splashed it on the defenceless girl. For the next part, Lettuce had floated down and was trying her best to look like old, useless Lettuce. Aya woke abruptly totally frozen to the bone. When she first saw Lettuce, she was surprised, but then anger took over and, even though Lettuce's presence was abnormal in that time of the night, commanded her to bring her dried towels.

"What are you waiting for, useless girl!", Aya had spat when she noticed that the girl wouldn't move.

At that moment Lettuce had enough and put her plan in action. In front of the soaked Aya, she started to transform; her hair getting darker, her ears growing, her eyes becoming slits and clothes changing. When Lettuce took off to tower over her, Aya wasn't trembling because of the cold anymore. She opened her mouth to scream she water flowed her mouth and nose; she drowning and she couldn't make a sound to save herself.

"You will never lay eyes on me again", Lettuce hissed. "You will never attack another person again and you will even forget I existed.", she then commanded.

When Aya could finally scream, Lettuce was long gone. When her parents found her, they had no explanation for her dampness or the unintelligible sentences about drowning from within and not attacking others anymore.

That same night two other families found themselves with their daughter in the same frightened state.

XXX

The last stop of the night for Lettuce more delicate. She wasn't sure how to she should proceed. With the Trio of doom it was easy, as long as she got her revenge it didn't really matter. However in _his_ case things were different. She loathed him from her memories, but something else was also nagging her at the back of her head, but she couldn't remember what. Anyway, she had to act before the sun was up, and Pai would get after her. She then decided to just go and see how things would turn out. Besides, if anything turned out wrong, she had some tricks up her sleeves.

XXX

**The ::: ::: ::: is because it's another part, but in Lettuce's point of view which equals at Ryou's past... All in all, it's not really important, just wanted to precise.**

**So...? not really long, but worth it? Don't be afraid to share your thoughts.**

**P-S: I know my timeline is not perfect, but let's say that the flashback of Ryou at the start happened between chapter 2 (The Saving) and 3 (The Changing).**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 – The Hope

**I know I said the next chapter would make the story advance, but I finished the precedent one on a continuation – which I had to continue – and then it turned out that it will be the next chapter that is gonna blow out things out of proportions? Don't know how to express myself... too late, my brain is kind of mushy. Anyway here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy :D**

XXX

Lettuce had not known what to do about Ryou, and a nagging feeling at the back of her head wouldn't leave her alone, so she would have to exploit it. She entered his room in the dark of the night and changed from alien to human – if she wanted to things to progress the way she wanted to, he couldn't attack her at first sight – and towered over him admiring his features. He looked so childlike when sleeping. Only some fleeting frown would break the peaceful image he showed, but then it wouldn't be Ryou if he wasn't on his guard even in his sleep. He would always look around for danger whenever she was with him, as if something would jump out and attack them. After all with the aliens around it wasn't so surprising anymore, and, anyway, she always liked to feel protected by Ryou.

She went stiff at that thought. How could she feel safe with someone, according to her memories, who always yelled after her and rejected her. Sure, she could be attracted to him, but she could not allow herself to feel any sorts of sentiments towards him. He was the _enemy_, one who didn't appreciate her when she was human. She pushed those thoughts out of her head and recollected herself before she would lose it all and fall on _him_.

Somehow it seemed that her breathing had awoken him, and a completely awake if not surprised Ryou was staring at Lettuce. He could not believe his eyes. She was there in front of him, looking much like the Lettuce they all knew. He couldn't let himself touch her in fear that she would disappear and he would discover that she was only a figment of his imagination.

'_Wait- touching?'_, Ryou thought, and then it hit him. If she was real and he wasn't dreaming, then she wasn't his Lettuce neither. They weren't touching, and he was laid down on his bed while she was over him. It meant only one thing: she was floating and thus the transformed Lettuce who had somewhat taken her human form back. He was desperate. If she wasn't back they had much work to do left. But then again, if she was in his room in the middle of the night – assuming no one knew where she was – there was still hope. She had come on her own and to see him none the less. He was afraid he would never get a chance to see her again, not after what he had said to her. It truly was a misunderstanding, but he knew he had hurt her feelings pretty badly. Nevertheless, if she was here, it was for a reason and he would never push her away again.

"Lettuce", he said caressing her face from the tip of his fingers. "I'm so glad you're here"

He smiled warmly at her and it made her heart sway. Only a blue eyed, blond haired boy could have this effect on her. However, she couldn't bask in this feeling forever, she had come to ask questions and she would get her answers.

"Who are you?", she said harshly. She moved out of his grasp still floating over his bed menacing.

"Why? Don't you remember?", he asked surprised. He sat on his bed to get some countenance and look clearly at Lettuce.

"I do, but I'm missing something important and I can't seem to find out what..." she muttered frustrated with herself. Understanding she had strayed from her interrogation, she tried to put it back on track. "I'm asking the questions, so don't try to distract me with yours. Anyway I asked you a question. Who. Are. You."

"I'm sorry Lettuce, I didn't want to upset you.", he said looking truly contrite. "What do you want to know?"

"Nothing, everything... I don't know.", she sighed. "Just start at the beginning."

"Ok. Let's see. Well, as you already know I am 17, or maybe you don't since you're missing some memories...", he trailed off. However, she didn't react to his comment and only the slits in her eyes – proof that human form was only a decoy – showed her irritation as she slightly dropped the transformation out of anger. "Anyway, I was an only child when I was young and was quite intelligent compared to other kids my age. My father, mother, Keiichiro and me, lived in a mansion just outside the city. That was where my father did his research on DNA. He was always passionate about science, but when my mother had developed a cancer when I was two, he was even more eager to find a cure. Luckily, she survived and lived everyday as the last. When I was around five, my parents knew they couldn't have more children, but they didn't want me to feel alone. So they adopted a young boy, Keiichiro, from an organization who helped gifted children. He got the best environment and at only eleven showed great interest in my father's work. Somehow, Keiichiro fit perfectly well in our family and we were really happy the four of us together.", he was smiling looking past Lettuce to a past long forgotten.

"But something happened", she said softly interrupting his thoughts.

"Yes. In truth, my mother never completely vanquished the cancer. It was malign and there was always the threat that it would come back suspended above our head. Still, she always played with me, cooked us dinner and did everything to the fullest. One day, however, it came back. I was ten by then.", he sighed. He knew he would have told Lettuce his story one day or another, but not in this situation. Not when she was pushing for it, and the threat that she presented was imposing in the small room. Nevertheless, he complied, hoping that somehow it would make her see reason; bring her back in touch with her human emotions and breach the barrier she had seemed to construct around herself. "My father had never really dropped his research in fear that something like that happened. When the news came out, he immerged himself in his work even more than usual. He came out of his lab for the daily visits to my mother's bed, but otherwise we never saw him. That second time though, the cancer was more vicious and within three months she was dead."

"Then what happened?", she urged him on when he stopped.

"Then my father immersed himself even more in his work. I think he didn't want to face my mother's death and that he kind of blamed himself over her death", he said pained.

"What! He shouldn't have, it's not like he could've done anything if it was as fierce as you said.", Lettuce interjected vehemently. Ryou had to hide his smile at that, she might have been changed by the alien, but the kind Lettuce who came to everyone's defence was still there.

"I know, but I think he was regretting not having found a cure or even passing more time with his wife before she died.", he explained. "Anyway, not long after her death, my father found that human and animal genetic was similar and that some humans possessed a gene which allowed the animal DNA to fuse with the human's. In any case, his discovery was too late for my mother, but impossible to share with the world since it was still at the stage of theory. With that father became crazy and was interned. By then, Keiichiro was already taking care of me, so it was only a formality for him to get custody of me." He then got up and paced around. He was getting restless and telling his story, forcing it out, for whatever Lettuce was planning didn't help to calm him. "In the end", he sighed. "we left and traveled around the world. When I was old enough, we came back to allow me to finish my schooling, which by then was only a requirement since I had learned everything from Keiichiro, my father's work and some books."

"That doesn't explain the Mew Mews", Lettuce added as an afterthought when she had processed everything Ryou had told her.

"Well, my father's work being incomplete, Keiichiro and me worked on it while we were traveling.", he admitted. "When I was finally done with school, we had by the same time finished my father's project: merging human and animal DNA."

All was out in the open. Lettuce wasn't satisfied, yet. She felt that Ryou was hiding something else from her. If she wanted to understand why Ryou had such an influence on her, she had to know everything about him. If he wouldn't tell her right away, he would need some persuasion.

"Ryou", she pleaded inching closer. "What are you hiding from me? Don't you trust me?" She was now in front of him, floating above the ground just so she could at the same height as Ryou, her arms around his neck, forehead against forehead, blue drowning in blue. "Sh-Shirogane-san?"

Even though Lettuce wasn't Lettuce any more, he could swear he saw her behind her alien blue eyes. The fact that she stuttered and called him by his last name was also proof that she wasn't completely gone too. If there was any way that his confidences about his past could bring her back he wouldn't hesitate. However, what she asked of him, could change everything. Admitting to her who he really was – taking in the fact that she still detained her memories previous the transformation – would either break her and pushed her further away from them or bring them closer to their hope of bringing Lettuce back. In any case, he didn't have a choice, he had to tell the truth.

'_I hope you'll understand Lettuce...'_, he thought hopefully.

"We couldn't really try our theory on real human beings, so put our experience on DNA on hold, and forgot about it. However, a year or so ago we found the first trace of the aliens on Earth. Even though they didn't do as much damage at first, we needed to stop them before everything would turn out for the worst.", he said carefully. "Thus the Micro Enhancing Whole – MEW Project – started. Still, since everything had been put on hold, the results might have changed and I didn't want to case a catastrophe by injecting something lethal. In the end, even if I didn't have the required gene, I decided to test the proficiency of our new discovery."

Taking a pause in his story, Ryou grabbed her waist and held tightly to be sure that she wouldn't go away. Sensing his distress, Lettuce gently ran her hand through his hair to let him know she was there. He may have been the enemy, but throughout narrating, she could feel his trust in her to confide such personal information. Despite what her memories were showing her, she trusted him and wanted to be near him. So, she dropped a kiss on his nose, only enjoying the moment for a second and tenderly asked him to continue. Too surprised to reciprocate any kind action of his own, Ryou carried on.

"Even though the most probable outcome would have been death, I was lucky enough to survive after that shot. However, I wasn't the same anymore. Since then, I discovered that I could change into a cat at will.", he finally admitted.

Lettuce took a step back and took off. She had came back to the ground during his story, but now she was once again out of grasp. She felt betrayed. She remembered the time she had fled the café and Ryou when he had rejected her help. She also remembered the cat in whom she confided before Pai found her. She couldn't believe the cat she implicitly trusted was in fact Ryou.

"So what? Since then, you found it amusing to spy on other people while they don't know who you are?", she spat.

"No, Lettuce –", Ryou tried to defend.

"Don't you dare say my name ever again...", she threatened, and the next thing he knew, Ryou was soaked from head to toe.

"Wait!", he yelled when he saw that she was going to leave. However, he didn't know what to say to justify his actions. All he wanted was to protect her, but it seemed that everything he did backfired. So, all that was left to him was to look at Lettuce, soul bared in front of her his eyes blazing with regret.

'_If only you would hear me out Lettuce. I would tell you how much I love you...'_, he thought for the first time admitting his feelings to himself.

Lettuce's eyes doubled and her body went completely rigid. Suddenly her transformation dropped, and the alien Lettuce was standing in front of Ryou. Seeing her shock, Ryou held an hand toward her, but she slapped it away.

"D-don't... try to enter my t-thoughts a-again", she said shakily on the verge of tears.

Ryou didn't understand what she meant, but before he could ask any more questions, she was gone. He was left alone again in his room. Lettuce's presence seeming all but a dream. Still, he knew everything really happened since he was soaking wet and he could still feel the raw emotions that had shown through Lettuce's eyes before she left; pain, hope and love...

XXX

Lettuce could not believe it. She had heard Ryou's thoughts! She had tried to reproduce the experience, but, when she had landed in a fast-food the boy, except from the yell that pretty much came out of the boy's mouth behind the counter all was silent. She tried to get nearer and concentrate, but nothing worked. She was sure that the ability hadn't came from her side or she would've known. Then it meant that it was Ryou that succeeded such a trick. From him, all it could be was a trick. During a second hearing Ryou's declaration had made her believe that maybe everything wasn't as she thought they were, but knowing that nothing so beautiful and privileged as love could happen to her, she had soon came down to Earth. She was now even more rooted in her resolve; those called aliens were a allies and the humans her enemies. Still, the nagging feeling at the back of her head was always there and it seemed to grow.

XXX

**I know it was a short one too. But it had to be done to explain Ryou's situation. I didn't think it would turned out to be a whole chapter about it, but – oh well... I also know that MEW isn't an acronym that stands for anything, but I thought they needed a reason to have named the Mew Mews the Mew Mews. Anyway, I hope everything is clearer about Ryou now, if you have any questions or comments don't be afraid to review :D**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11 – The Explanation

**Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry, please don't kill me. I know it's been ages since I've updated and many of you must have simply abandoned hope on this story, but I can assure I'm gonna finish it as I have all the lay out plan for it already thought of. All that's left is the writing and since that's a little bit more complicated... If you just got fed up with my more than slow/lazy pace of writing once again I wouldn't blame you, but I still hope that for those of you who are still hanging by a thin thread aren't too deceived by that chapter :O**

XXX

Ryou had finally confessed about Lettuce visit. They had closed the café early this day; no one was into it and the clients were few anyway. They had sat in a circle, like they did before Lettuce's transformation, and thought of a plan. They weren't getting anywhere, though. Whether or not they wanted to help Lettuce, it proved to be a harsher task than they had first thought. She was so inclined to label them as the bad ones. They were seen as the enemy and, at that moment, it seemed nothing except a miracle could make her see the truth.

"But – didn't you say she wanted to learn more about you?", Ichigo asked.

"Yeah, you said that she didn't remember you, but wanted to know who you were.", Pudding added. "Maybe Lettuce is still there?", she asked hopeful.

"Maybe we should focus on why she was changed in the first place instead of trying to form any plan blindly.", Zakuro tried to reason them.

Hearing that, Akasaka-san shifted slightly on his chair. He was starting to get uncomfortable with what he was omitting to tell them. He knew it was a revelation needed to be done, but he also knew it may shattered all hope anyone had of getting Lettuce back to normal. In his frenzy, he got up and walked toward the kitchen. Minto noticed his twitchiness and decided to follow him just in case. She didn't know what preoccupied Akasaka-san, but she knew it must be important if it put him in such a state.

"Akasaka-san, what is wrong?", she asked.

No one had paid attention to them lost in their own thoughts, but Akasaka-san still had to make sure that they weren't being listened on. He turned swiftly towards Minto and gazed at her with an apologetic look as if he had committed the worst crime possible.

"I haven't been completely truthful with you all.", he admitted in a small voice.

"Knowing you there must have been a good reason.", she said.

"There is, but I don't know if it'll be enough for you to get it when I tell you what I hid.". Akasaka-san was now pacing around and didn't look Minto into the eyes. "You must believe me when I say it was all for the better", he added restlessly.

"I believe you, Keiichiro", Minto stated clearly. She didn't want him to doubt the trust she had put in him – they all did.

Hearing his name coming through of Minto's lips stopped him dead in his tracks. He was glad to hear she would still be on his sides amidst everything. Without his own knowledge, his legs transported him in her direction and he held her in a tight hug. He relished the feeling of her small frame against his own, graving it in his memory as an anchor for after his next revelation.

"Thank you, Minto. It means more to me than you can imagine.", he truthfully said. He then proceeded to drag her back with the others still holding her hand.

Minto followed him only because he was leading her. At the moment, her brain wasn't functioning properly and her emotions were swirling out of control. She was uncertain of what was going in her heart, but what she was sure of was that the man walking in front of her, with hair having flown out of his ponytail since long, trusted her entirely, and she felt the same. For now, it would have to do since they had more urgent matters at hand. Anyway, she would get plenty of the time later to sort whatever she was feeling right now, or so she thought.

XXX

Akasaka-san was fidgeting. It was almost indiscernible to those who didn't know him, but Ryou noticed him discreetly shuffling with his feet and he wasn't looking anyone in the eyes. Sensing something important was going to be said, everyone stopped in the middle of their thinking and directed their attention towards the two people standing up.

"Minto, you should sit down too.", he said gently pushing her towards her chair. "I have some things to confess to you, guys..."

"Go on, Keiichiro.", Minto encouraged him. "We won't judge you. I'm sure whatever you've hidden was for the better", she restated for the second time. He smiled nervously and continued.

"As you all know, your powers basically come from the merging of your DNA with one's of an animal. However, such process cannot be accomplished without some conditions.", he started to explain. "You need to have a special genome in your DNA, so the transformation will happen."

"Yes, you already explained that to us, which much more scientific terms, but still, why are you explaining it all over again?", Ichigo asked, frantic for the science talk to end and get to the point.

"Wait. Akasaka-san, you said _conditions_. You never mentioned another trigger to the transformation.", Zakuro interjected.

"That's right, because I never thought there was another one, until we met Lettuce.", he revealed.

"Lettuce? Is that why she was attacked by the aliens?", Pudding asked.

"Yes, partially. But I think that the fact that she was associated with us is what first attracted their attention", Akasaka-san answered.

"Okay, but that doesn't explain why they went to all this length to render Lettuce evil", Ichigo pitched in.

At that, Akasaka-san pointedly looked at Ryou. He knew why and the how of Lettuce's turning evil, but it was the younger who had wanted to keep the secret about Lettuce's true capabilities. He thought the right to divulge that secret was Ryou's since he so fiercely tried to protect the green haired girl.

Ryou sighed, but still said nothing. The girls all sensed he had the answer, and turned their attention to him.

At first, he had tried to stay away from the conversation when Keiichiro had started to reveal the true coming of the girls' powers. However, he knew he would be dragged in before long. _He_ had wanted to keep Lettuce's true nature from everyone –even her – so _he_ now had to face it.

"You should know it wasn't meant as a secret kept from you. I only wanted to be sure that Lettuce would be ready and prepared to face it all.", he started cautiously, knowing how the girls could sometimes react abruptly. "So, when Lettuce first arrived, you became all friends quite fast, right Minto, Ichigo?"

The girls nodded their head in agreement.

"It's almost as if you had been friends for long who only reunited after years of separation. It was the same for Pudding and Zakuro.", he continued. "Well, you see... the DNA fusion is more than just a transformation. Somehow, the biological altering in yourselves calls one another, knows when meeting another Mew; like an animal would recognize its own species."

"Are you saying Lettuce is one of us, as a Mew Mew?", Minto interjected.

"Basically. But she has yet to awaken as a Mew Mew.", Akasaka-san responded.

"Okay. Not so surprising. Now, what is the other condition for the transformation to take effect?", Zakuro asked with no overflowing emotions.

"Will", Ryou spit out.

"When your DNA is merged, until it is a question of life and death, it stays stagnant. You have to _want_ to change, to will your body to the transformation.", Akasaka-san explained.

"Really? But when I first transformed no one asked me if I wanted to or not...", Ichigo exclaimed.

"Maybe, but you wanted to protect others and yourself.", Ryou interjected. "I think we can enter that in the life or death situation" He talked without much emotion or intonation. He was starting to get tired and he only wished to get this talk over and done with, so they could go after the aliens and have a chance to save Lettuce. For the time being, he was patiently – well, begrudgingly – waiting for everything to be revealed so they could get on with their mission.

"But Lettuce has been in life and death situations too. Why has her power never awoken? Was it because she didn't know of the power within herself? As far as those powers go, I didn't know either", Zakuro surmised.

"In your case it's different", Akasaka-san explained. "Like Minto, you wanted your life to change. You also sought to aid others, but your means weren't enough. In the end, your body supplied the solution to your problem, because you willed it to."

"And for me?!", Pudding enquired enthusiastically.

"You are truly the most open-minded person", Akasaka-san chuckled slightly. "You were willing to believe right away, and accepted what you could do. It wasn't much your willingness, but your belief that allowed you to free your power Pudding-chan."

"But then, why did Lettuce suddenly changed? And into an alien at that.", Minto asked.

"I'm not sure, but I'd say that, while you need the will to help and protect to become a Mew, the contrary would be asked to transform into an alien.", Akasaka-san theorized. "Then, when the change was implanted in her, her emotions were most likely dark, sad, vengeful or depreciative which lead to her becoming an alien."

"Good! Now that we've all concluded that I've pushed her to the dark side, can we move on and try to find a way to bring her back?", Ryou said heatedly.

"Ryou, no one said that – ", Akasaka-san began.

"But you all thought it. Admit it Keiichiro, if I hadn't been there, Lettuce would have most likely not transformed in the first place or at least she would be here and not with the aliens.", he said defeated.

"Ryou! Stop degrading yourself like that. Without you, she would still be under the influence of the Trio of Doom, she would have been captured by the aliens since way before and we wouldn't know that there is still a part of her that remains under all the evil-alien-ness", Ichigo brusquely reasoned.

"I'm sure that deep down she knows we're her friends and that we'll try everything in our power to help her.", Minto added.

"For now, all that's left is for us to find her", Zakuro said.

"Then we just have to look for the aliens, it should be easy. And when we bring her back, she can help me on a new trick that I thought of", Pudding proposed eagerly.

"Pudding, it couldn't be that simple", Ichigo chastised.

"Well, surprisingly, she may be right", Ryou interjected. "Knowing the aliens, now that they have one more person to help them, they'll search more frantically for the Blue Aqua. Surely, she'll be with them."

Pudding put on a bright, smug grin and directed it directly towards Ichigo who then proceeded to pinch her cheeks in order to wipe off her grin. However, in her retaliation, the red haired girl accidently managed to bring her elbow in harsh contact with Minto's ribs. The third girl then joined the battle herself and their quiet, gloomy and serious reunion became a screaming, kicking fight.

"Girls!", Akasaka-san yelled to attention. "Let's take a break for the day and we'll go after the aliens tomorrow, okay?"

Ryou got up from his seat hurriedly and fled to their base cave in order to search more information on the aliens.

XXX

Lettuce looked around her. She was yet again stuck in the alien's vessel. It didn't do anything except – luckily – cloak itself since their panel of command had suffered severe damage during the landing in the jungle. Still, she wasn't usually difficult in her accommodations, but being stuck in a ship with nothing to see around except metal walls inside and vegetation outside was rapidly getting old and boring.

They had tried to pinpoint the location were the Blue Aqua could have landed on Earth, but so far their research had turned up unsuccessful. They didn't possess much technology to discover it except for the chimera animals which could somehow sense the Blue Aqua – or so they thought. So far, they were only good to wreak havoc in the city.

"What has you so pensive, newbie?", Kish asked. He had silently crept behind her to surprise her. He never completely trusted her and since her recent disappearance he was always keeping a close eye on her. "Is something not right in that little head of yours?"

"Nothing of your concern", she replied sternly.

"Then where did you go last night?", he ask.

"I believe that too is none of your concern", she answered coldly.

"And I believe my brother asked you a question about your little escapade.", Pai interjected. On his last rampage he had found a possible sign of the Blue Aqua and he wanted to verify that probability as soon as possible.

"Let's just say I got even with some old enemies...", she smirked, not hiding anything, but not telling everything either.

"Glad you're enjoying your new accommodations, but I would appreciate it if you refrained from getting out without informing one of us first.", Pai requested.

"Don't worry, it won't happen again", she declared bitterly.

"Good.", he said at ease. "Now I have news that would most likely end our blind search. The last chimera animal was oddly attracted to the Nijubashi Bridge at the Imperial Palace. The humans also claim that the water is clearer there than anywhere else and that the vegetation surrounding it is luxuriant and lush."

"Are you really going to base the end of our search on humans' suppositions?", Kish asked sceptically.

"That's why we're going there to see for ourselves, stupid." Tart entered without anymore preamble to make his thoughts clear on what Kish had just said.

Lettuce had discover over the few days that she had been with the three brothers that they weren't much to the humans than they thought – or to the Mew Mews in this present case. They were as hot headed as some of the girls and were sometimes acting impulsively. Their aim was to save their planet whatever the cost was. Even though the aliens' methods were questionable, no doubts that the Mew Mews were also doing their utmost to protect the Earth from the aliens too. In the end, they were all fighting for what they thought was the higher cause, and – here she was – stuck in the middle; choosing a side more because of the lack of the choice than anything else.

Still her only will in all the aliens' plans was for the Mew Mews to feel like she felt; betrayed and useless. She was fighting in the aim to cause the littlest damage possible to everyone else waiting for her time to get revenge. Somehow, even though she had turned _evil_ – as the Mew Mews referred her transformation to – she didn't want in any way to injure those who had nothing to her. After her payback on the Trio of Doom, she had found her anger diminishing, almost vanishing, until she learned the truth about Ryou. Her memories were still blurry and unclear, but she clearly remembered the feeling of being betrayed by the girls and the fact that Ryou spied on her as a cat – he had admit it himself. If they didn't trust her, and rejected her friendship then she wouldn't impose herself on them. All she wanted was for them to understand how hurt she felt.

"So, when are we leaving to this place where there's supposedly Blue Aqua?", Kish demanded still unbelieving that they had found it.

"Aren't you happy that we may finally have found what we came here searching for?", Pai asked concerned. "Or are your feelings for a certain pink Mew Mew clouding your judgement?"

"Hmph! As if a mere human could really interest me.", Kish countered indifferently.

"Then why are you always after her?", Tart supplied.

"You're one to talk!", Kish retorted. " You can barely fight your little monkey, you only want to play and share candies with her...", he mocked.

"Enough!", Pai yelled. "Your childish behaviour is getting on my nerves. We may have found what we need, so forget about your petty quarrels and let's move out"

Without another word or even a glance back, he transported out of the room. His brothers begrudgingly followed him out. Lettuce stayed there alone. She was getting tired and her head was aching; it was starting to get difficult to discern her memories from what could be pure inventions of her mind. And the same old problem was running around in her head, but she couldn't seem to find a solution to it. She loathed Ryou for what he did and yearned to see him again – as well as the others, except that wasn't in the forefront of her mind. Still, she didn't know what to do anymore. In the end, she decided to catch up the guys and deal with her problems later.

XXX

She appeared on a stone bridge. The three aliens were floating over the water – not caring if they were seen at all – looking deeply in the depth of the river as if the Blue Aqua would just appear suddenly and fly right into their hands.

_They're like three big kids waiting for father Christmas_, Lettuce thought. She hid her laugh before it would ring out, but she couldn't completely wipe the smile off her face. The three of them were staring expectantly at the water; Pai with an air of deep thinking, Kish with disbelief and Tart with great anticipation. They were still empty handed, but it seemed it would not stay like that for long. The surface of the river was bubbling up, something was rising out of it. Lettuce could not fathom what it was just yet, but it looked like a chimera animal – an alligator, maybe.

Finally, it appeared out of the water and faced the aliens. It was somewhat standing on the water as if it was solid. The alligator – or at least what looked like it, but twice its size – was white with red eyes. It wore a kind of armor with a device ingrained on its chest which emanated a blue light. Pai reached for the creature with his hand outstretched. Neither of the two other guys moved nor tried to reach for the creature themselves. They were enchanted by the blue lighting on the alligator's chest, never ceasing their stare on it. At last, Pai took hold of the device/container enclosing the glowing liquid.

"We've found it!", Tart yelled enthusiastically. "We can return home, and regain our people's trust"

"Yes, finally...", Pai added staring intently into the Blue Aqua.

Lettuce and Kish, however, had a faraway look stitched on their faces; none of them looked truly happy with the discovery. They didn't wish to leave the Earth just yet.

XXX

**Okay, I know I'm very bad... I don't update for something like – what? More than three months – forever than and I decide to finish the chapter on such a note. Pardon me (again . ) as I had to in order to make the transition more smooth for the following part (at least I'm trying to) So, until next time (which will hopefully not be in three months time :O :P )**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12 – The Intermission

**So here is another chapter. I have to tell you, though, that's it's still not thrilling. There is not much action in this chapter, that's why it's called **_**The Intermission**_** :D Even though it's not much I hope you still appreciate it. You can still wait for the other chapter, which should contain more action. Anyway I still decided to put it up instead of dragging it for an eternity, and never having a follow up :O :P**

XXX

Ryou was working downstairs in the lab. He had wanted to get away from the others after the _talk_ and focus all his attention on how to retrieve his Lettuce back. So far his research were useless. He grunted out of desperation and hit the console in front of him. Lettuce had been within his grasp and he had let her go, just like that. He would never pardon himself for such a blunder – which had turned out as a missed opportunity. He remembered her face, which during an instant seemed completely at easy and trusting. She was enclosed in his arms, their faces mere inches apart, but then he had had to reveal all his past mistakes. It made her flee. She trusted him, but then he broke that trust and she had prefer to go the aliens instead of staying with him. Still he couldn't blame her, he knew how hard it was to face the truth, but he also knew it was harder to be separated from the one you truly –

"Ryou! There have been sightings of the aliens near the Nijubashi Bridge. Hurry up the girls are already gone!" Keiichiro got out as soon as he delivered his message to go after the girls, not knowing he had interrupted Ryou's thoughts at a crucial time.

The blond ran a hand through his hair, and proceeded to get ready to go. He pushed thoughts of Lettuce out of his head – it's as if he hadn't tormented himself with those since she start – and directed his attention on the computer in front of him. It seemed their sensors had picked up a burst of energy near the Imperial Palace, just next to the bridge. It seemed the aliens had found the Blue Aqua, since only that could create such an energy burst. He would have to hurry, if he wanted to be there before anything bad – or worst in this case – happened.

He went to retrieve some equipment before going, when a flashing blue light suddenly got his attention. When he looked into it he was glad he had done so, because it could change everything they had thought before.

XXX

Lettuce couldn't believe her eyes. They had come to retrieve the Blue Aqua when soon after they were interrupted in the middle of their analyzing it. A couple in a romantic outing, wanting to enjoy the scenery from the bridge, had stumble upon them. Unfortunately for them – in this case, the aliens – the humans weren't frozen in fright and quickly fled on the sight of people floating over the water with a giant crocodile in between. It wasn't the sighting the couple had hoped for, but it still had them flabbergasted. Luckily for them – the couple this time – the aliens were too engrossed in their findings to worry about mere humans. Then once those said mere humans got out of the woods, they yelled some gibberish about aliens floating over water.

Most of the people they met on their way far from the aliens – the furthest possible – looked upon them with inquiring stares about their sanity. Still, since Chimera animals were more and more present during the last few months others understood and quickened their pace towards home. One of those said persons bumped into Minto without excusing himself. Since her temper was already short from all that happened in the few days, it only flared and she sent a death glare in the man's direction. However, seeing the worried face he had etched on and the terrified look he always gave behind him, Minto soon sensed something was wrong. She continued on her route – also the way where the man looked – when she heard the first whispers about aliens. Since their constant appearance out of nowhere and quite damaging, the aliens had made themselves a reputation of "If you see them don't yell or it'll get worst". Still, some people who had yet to stumble upon them didn't believe it and thought that the few reports the media got were only making-ups. However, those who had seen, noticed that, somehow, when the said aliens were interrupted they were doing more damage than anything since they made it their goal to get rid of the unnerving curious ones.

In the end, after much ear wrenching, Minto finally heard what she wanted, and discovered that the aliens were in the vicinity, more precisely at the Nijubashi bridge at the Imperial Palace. She then proceeded to call the rest of the team on site to maybe get a chance at bringing Lettuce back.

And that was what brought us back with Lettuce. She couldn't believe her eyes that once again the Mew Mews were getting in her way. True, she didn't have much against them as she did Ryou, but they still got some bad points on their side AND they were siding with Ryou. So all in all, they weren't besties – to say in simpler terms.

XXX

Pai gritted his teeth. He thought he had gotten rid of those little pests by snatching their _protégé_ under their noses, but it looked like he had under evaluated their attachment. He still couldn't quite wrap his head around the human emotions; they were much consuming and _passionate_ than theirs. Sure great passion allowed their civilization to accomplish great things, but it didn't equal to the human's who did everything with at least an ounce of it. He sighed heavily, and prepared to launch the chimera animal against the Mew Mews _again_.

XXX

Ichigo yelled in joy. Despite everything that happened, she was still lucky. With the help of Lettuce, but without telling the others, the green haired girl and herself had entered in a contest not so long ago. It consisted of showing, the most original way possible, how you knew the best the Mew Mews. Since she had learned Lettuce had a knack for creating those little representations of animal hand-made in with wool, cotton and whatever else she used, Ichigo had the idea of those little figures of the Mew Mews hand-made. Sure it wasn't the best idea, but it had gotten Lettuce's mind off the Trio of Doom, and it had allowed the two girls to pass more time together. Anyway, she just had received a reply to let them know that their creations had won one price within the five delivered to the contestants. It wasn't first place, but for something made out of nothing, it was still something to rejoice about.

When she saw the price, four tickets to the circus which in the city for a month. Their tickets were valid until the last of the circus in town. Knowing Lettuce would greatly enjoy it strengthened Ichigo's will to bring her back. So, when she received Minto's call to the Nijubashi Bridge she didn't have a doubt it was for Lettuce and dashed out of her house to get there as fast as possible.

XXX

Kish was looking devastated at the water. They were finally going back home, but he couldn't fathom the idea of leaving the Earth just yet. He would never admit it out loud, but he felt kind of attached to a certain pink Mew Mew and he wanted to spend more time with before they went separate ways. She may not like him, but she never truly pushed him away either whenever he made advances on her, and she also never seemed to mind to attention he gave her. Still, even if she would yell at him to go away and never return, he would be reluctant to do so. So for now he was in a pinch, torn between his duty and his heart.

XXX

Zakuro slashed away at the wood dummy in front of her. Her private gym had never seemed so useful since she had found out her Mew powers. She could practice, keep herself in shape and, lately, vent her anger somewhere else than the chimera animals. She felt once again useless at not being able to help Lettuce. She had the impression to relieve her days as a mannequin in the States when she was younger. She couldn't decide for herself and had lived what others imposed on her with no will for herself or way to do what she thought she ought to do. Even if what she was feeling was less childish, the impression of having no right over your life to only even help someone else was frustrating. She was used to fight and win, but now it was a battle of the wills within Lettuce herself, and all she could do was wave at her and encourage the girl to take the right path.

She would do anything to help the green haired girl. They may be opposites, strong inside but frail outside while the other was the contrary, but she felt so attuned to the girl's emotions, that she wouldn't support to see such a kind soul get crushed by someone's cruelty. On that thought, she changed and sped towards Minto signal in less time than anyone would be able to.

XXX

She was quite down lately. Since the Mew Mews had so much problems, Pudding had difficulty to find it in her to be joyful. She still put a facade in front of her siblings, but it wasn't the same, and everyone in her family noticed. When she didn't finish her dinner, her small army of brothers and sisters took it upon themselves to cheer her up. They played tag, got into a massive World War III pillow fight and ate way too much candies. Under the influence of the sugar, and the joyous state it always brought her in, she remembered all those times she had succeeded to cheer Lettuce up with her tricks and decided that was what she would always do. Be happy and share that happiness with others. So when Minto called, she took a little more time than Zakuro to get there – since she was so full – but she arrived with a big smile plastered on her face, ready to fight off the aliens for Lettuce's sake.

XXX

Tart was most joyous by their new discovery. They would finally return to their planet and prove their worth to their people. Their honour would be bought back by their saving everyone with the Blue Aqua. They would also restore their parents' reputation and prove others how brilliant they were. Still, he was glad to see Pudding one last time. He had just hoped that it would've been in another situation and that they could've played together instead of fight. However, as far as Pai went, he would prefer to deal with the Mew Mews with brute force instead of just promising to go and never come back or declare peace. Since Pai was the oldest, even if it didn't please them, him and Kish would stick with him through it all.

XXX

They were all once again facing each others; the Mew Mews against the aliens. This time however, there was something more at stake than the destruction of the chimera animals. Everyone was there except Ryou who still had to arrive. Still, the tension was palpable and everyone seemed on edge. The blue light within Pai's hand did nothing to smother it. However, the Mew Mews' eyes were glued on Lettuce's form floating over the water with the other aliens.

"Lettuce!", the girls yelled in time, but the girl ignored them waiting for Pai's instructions.

"Lettuce, please! Just listen to us", Ichigo pleaded.

"We're your friends, we only want what's best for you!", Minto added.

"My friends?", she spat. "What have you done for me? I never really was your friend, was I? You only pitied me, and used me as the Trio of Doom did."

"What?", Pudding cried shocked. "Never!"

"Tsk, tsk ,tsk...", Pai interjected. "Please, little one, do not lie"

"You should know that we are not the ones who lie", Zakuro retorted.

"Then if you're not lying and we're not, who's telling the truth? We can't both tell it at the same time, can we?", Kish tried to outsmart her.

"Don't try to be smart, it doesn't suit you, Kish", Ichigo mocked.

"Sorry, but I've got to agree with her", Tart snorted.

"Oh, you...!", Kish threatened.

"What, you can't form sentences anymore?", Tart laughed. "Really, get more intelligent than that, and we won't be able to understand you anymore."

At that, Kish made to launch himself at his little brother, but his momentum was stopped by Pai who grabbed him by the collar. He then proceeded to place himself between the two who daren't pronounce another word.

"That's what we call a united family", whispered Ichigo which made the others smile.

"What's so funny?", Kish asked, suspicious.

"Nothing", Ichigo smiled innocently. "What made you so edgy?"

Kish deemed it wiser not to respond and turned his attention back onto his brother who was now deep in conversation with Lettuce.

"Do not listen to them, okay?", he told her. "They're not doing it for you. They only want to change you back to spite us, they're not really your friends."

"Yes, I know. But sometimes I doubt _you_ are even my friend.", she replied.

"If we're not, then who is?", he countered.

The tension was even more obvious now, and no one dared meet the enemy's eyes. They didn't trust one another and it made the meeting even more tensed. Lucky for him, Ryou chose this moment to arrive. You could cut the silence with a knife, but Ryou approached loudly yelling to the other that he had found something big. Everyone broke out of their trance and turned their attention on the newcomer.

"Oh, pray tell, Ryou. We are all so eager to hear about your news.", Pai said in a condescending tone.

"Never mind, it's nothing important", he reeled back when he noticed the alien's were present.

"So now, you don't want to share with us your knowledge. That is so selfish of you.", Kish intercepted.

"It's not that I don't want to tell you anything, it's only that I don't trust you with it.", he replied.

"You don't trust any of us?", Pai asked with a false air of hurt.

"I trust no aliens", he said matter-of-factly.

"Then you don't trust me neither?", Lettuce asked in turn, but true hurt seeping through her voice for her case.

When she had first seen Ryou arrived, a faint flicker of sentiment towards him had taken life. She hated herself for it, but she couldn't erase all that she seemed to feel when she faced him. All reason disappeared, and she was only left with _admiration_ – she couldn't exactly pinpoint what she was feeling – for him. The blond bangs hiding blue eyes, always wearing collars; all in all, he was tall, handsome and heart stopping. So when he declared that he didn't trust aliens, she couldn't help but get insecure. Even though she wasn't an alien _per se_, she had somehow become part of them. Then, before she could think it through, the words had left her mouth, and she was stuck there waiting for an answer. And through it all, she still hoped that he would say that she was the exception and that she was like no other.

"What?! N-no, never", he slightly stuttered.

Ryou never had thought Lettuce would categorize herself with the aliens. _He_ didn't! She still was his Lettuce; the green haired girl who had arrived at the café without much confidence , but with such a big heart. Since then, she had learned to make herself heard, but she was always as kind hearted, that he was sure of.

"I think it's time we show them what we can do", Pai said putting himself between Lettuce and Ryou to interrupt _their moment_. "Chimera croco!"

Hearing its call, the crocodile headed for the Mew Mews. It bare its teeth and jumped, claws in front of him, at the girls. They all scattered in an organized chaos, taking their fighting stances. However, the crocodile was more of a Blue Aqua searcher than a fighter. So the girls were easily overpowering him.

Seeing that, Pai was in a blinding rage. They had come to Earth to retrieve what was theirs, and little girls with little powers continuously intercepted their plans. He didn't like to be there like the humans didn't like him to be. All he wanted was to return home. He felt so lonely and far away from all he knew. When he had seen Lettuce for the first time, he had thought that she would've understood what he felt, but it seemed she already had too much attachment to her ancient life to fully appreciate what she had become. And now, it looked like they would never be able to get back to the their home. There was only one thing for him left to do. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

He held the Blue Aqua in his hand tightly, silently praying for a good outcome, lifted his arm up, and threw it at the chimera.

XXX

**So another (boring?) chapter within 1 week... not so bad :P**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13 – The Confession

**I hope you like this chapter. We're now finally entering the fluff... even though it won't happen again for a while and it's only a small part at the end, but, still, I hope you like it. If it's too confusing or full of mistakes just tell me, enjoy :D **

**P-S: I've just noticed that I changed from Mint to Minto, so... that's how it is. It doesn't change the story, but it's just a detail I thought I should point out in case you haven't noticed or did.**

XXX

'_He's going to throw it!_'

Akasaka-san saw it before it happened. He had kept silent on the sidelines since the beginning, but now he had to come up and do something. He glanced around him, and saw that Ryou was nearest Pai. He knew what the blue Aqua could do and if he didn't act fast enough there would be much damage done. So he yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Ryou! The blue Aqua!"

Ryou's attention then shifted from Lettuce to Pai, and when he saw the alien ready to cast his precious liquid towards the chemira, he knew he had to do something. If it ever went in contact with the crocodile, it would increase its power exponentially. So he ran toward Pai to try to stop him and maybe snatch the Blue Aqua from him.

During it all, Lettuce was watching the scene unfurl before her eyes. Akasaka-san's interjection had also attracted her attention, but she couldn't fathom why it was so important. She knew that Pai was wasting away all the alien's effort in his revenge streak, but it was the alien's problem, not the human's. Anyway, she knew from experience that the human's were selfish and cruel, so why would they care if their enemies' future was compromised? No one had cared for her when she was human, so why would they care for aliens' now?

XXX

_Ding! Dong!_

"_Lettuce it's for you!", her mother yelled from downstairs._

_Lettuce felt quite down lately since the Trio of Doom wouldn't stop harassing her. She had decided to take the day off from work since it was Sunday and usually it was quite calm. However, it seemed life had other plans for her. She had only wanted to lay in bed all day and not have to act as if the Trio of Doom wasn't bothering her. Still, she wasn't the kind of person to leave her guests at the door, and if her mother had let them in, it meant that it was surely people she wanted to see._

_When she arrived downstairs, the girls were all huddled in her small entrance; Ichigo and Pudding looking everywhere curiously, Zakuro with her ever-on-stoic face, and Minto with a blank stare as if wondering what she was doing there. However as soon as Lettuce came in sight they all smiled happily – maybe that big of a smile for Zakuro, but still – and moved towards her to engulf her in a big group hug._

"_W-what are you all doing here?", she enquired, surprised._

"_Aren't you happy to see us?", Pudding pouted._

"_O-of course, I am", she smiled. "I'm just surprised."_

"_Well, seeing as of lately you were somewhat down, we decided to come and pay you a visit when we learned you weren't coming to work today.", Zakuro supplied._

"_But what of the café?! Surely Akasaka-san and Shirogane-san can't manage alone!", she stated._

"_Don't worry about that, Lettuce", Minto interjected. "Our friend here", she pointed to Ichigo, "has talked quite... fervently Ryou into giving us a day off to come and see you."_

"_We wanted to be sure that you were okay", Ichigo declared ardently, but she still kept a ounce of shyness and never looked Lettuce in the eyes. "B-but if you don't to, we can always go back. I'm sorry, maybe you don't want us here. I only thought of myself and never asked you if it was okay for us to come at your place. Look we'll go and see you..."_

"_Oh! No, we don't!", Minto interrupted her. "You dragged out of my home at an ungodly hour, because _you_ didn't have Lettuce's address. Then we had to go and wake up Ryou for it, and you know how he acts when he's just out of bed... In the end, we were way too early to come here or to pick up Zakuro or Pudding, so we went and search for something to cheer up Lettuce. What did we bought? Muffins, because no bloody store was open this early a SUNDAY MORNING!", she huffed out her last words._

"_Oh, someone's cranky...", Ichigo couldn't help, but tease even though she knew it would end up badly for her._

_As usual, whenever Minto and Ichigo got into a fight, Lettuce couldn't help but start laughing. They got into the silliest fight, since Ichigo seemed to always lead Minto in her worst laid plans which then always ended up with the blue haired girl losing her temper. Also, it warmed Lettuce's heart to know that she had such good friends who would go to such length for her._

"_Don't worry Lettuce, I kept the muffins myself to be sure that Ichigo wouldn't eat them.", Pudding said in between Lettuce's giggles._

"_Thank you, Pudding-chan", she managed to say when her laughter subsided._

"_What? I would never have ate them!", Ichigo defended. _

"_I'm not so sure. With the way you were looking at the bag, we thought you would eat it whole... muffins and paper.", Minto said matter-of-factly._

"_Zakuro, please help me here", Ichigo pleaded when she became short of arguments._

"_I'm sorry, but I have to side with those two.", Zakuro replied. "The stare you were giving the bag was worst than when you put Pudding in a candy story."_

_Minto looked smug, but hearing the comparison with herself, Pudding sulked and sided with Ichigo. However, before it could turn any worst Lettuce reigned in her mirth and butted in._

"_So how about we go eat those muffins?", she said clearly now completely at eased with the group. "I know a park not far from here, and it's so nice outside, we should take advantage of it."_

XXX

Lettuce got out of her trance. She was sure that what she just saw was a memory. But if the girls were all that kind to her, it meant that all she all presumed about the humans were false. She couldn't quite wrap her head around that fact just yet. Nonetheless, even if she had wanted to think it through, the scuffle in front of her snapped her out of her thought.

Ryou had reached Pai before he casted the Blue Aqua away, but he was still struggling to get the upper hand. Suddenly, Ryou distracted the alien by an arm play and lunged for the Blue Aqua. Nevertheless, Pai wasn't one to go down without a fight, and in a last attempt to get his revenge he threw it away towards the chimera.

Ryou was too far to run after it, and could only look at it while it descended upon the Mew Mews and the crocodile battling. As luck would have it, the crocodile, who was stuck in a trap, succeeded to free itself, and Ichigo threw herself in its direction in hope of restraining it. However, she misjudged her angle, and landed in its previous spot; where the Blue Aqua was coming.

Seeing the outcome before it happened, Lettuce didn't think much about it and flew in between the Blue Aqua and Ichigo. Since her _capture_ by the aliens, Lettuce hadn't learned much more about their quest except, that they were searching for something called the Blue Aqua and that it could save their land. Still, she didn't know its true power and when she saw it flying towards Ichigo – also not to forget that it was contained in something that looked like a glass recipient despite its shiny blue hue – she was only scared for the Mew Mews' well being.

In the end, it hit her directly in the abdomen, glass shattering everywhere and covering her in cuts. Suddenly, she felt a strange power entering her body. She tried to fight it, but it was useless. Anyway, when she stopped wrestling against it, a warm feeling surrounded her. It was as if everything was falling into place, and that everything that happened lately wasn't important anymore. She felt happy and confident, like she was her true self finally. But then, the power proved too be too much for her; her Mew Mew power, the alien's and the Blue Aqua were clashing inside of her, each trying to take control.

Seeing she was going to lose consciousness and fall down, Ryou ran to her and caught her before she could hurt herself any further. It seemed, however, that as soon as they touched each other the excess of power within Lettuce's body sought Ryou. Then, before anyone else thought of doing something they were both on the ground unconscious, no one daring to touch them in case something happened to them too.

XXX

Lettuce couldn't comprehend nor remember what had happened to her. All she knew was that at one point she was rushing at Ichigo's side to save her and then she was here – even though she didn't know what _here_ was. Everything was white, it looked like a palace of some sort. She was in a grand hall surrounded by balconies, but everything was so bright that she couldn't discern the landscape outside – if there was one. She was at the far end of the corridor/hall and three lights were fighting – she wasn't sure since she never saw _energy_ fighting one another – at the other end. One blue, one green and one yellow. It seemed so surreal to her and all she could do was looking at them – could they be seen as entities – while they fought since there was nothing else she could do. The outside wasn't tempting if she couldn't even look at it since it was too bright and there no doors, only one long corridor with her and three energy balls.

She sighed. Everything she had wanted for her life was to find friends, maybe love and to get by the best she could. She never imagined being enrolled in such adventures where she found herself aiding aliens on their quest to save their planets while fighting who she had once considered as her best friends. Still she shouldn't have been fooled, at first she had trusted the Trio of Doom. Now everything was different, and even though she had hoped for something better in her life, it had all turned bitter.

"Maybe I should've let the others explain...", she trailed off out loud.

Now that she was stuck in _somewhere_ she was starting to have regret. She couldn't help, but second thinking what she had previously believed. If only some of her fuzzy memories could become clearer and then, with the truth, maybe she could face the others once again on equal grounds.

Suddenly she felt the atmosphere around her shift. Then a blinding light, even brighter than the one _outside_, surrounded her and she felt herself being transported elsewhere. When she opened her eyes she was in the café with Ichigo, Minto and Akasaka-san facing the Trio of Doom. They had an angry look etched on their faces while the Trio of Doom wore smug faces.

"What...?", she started, but then she was cut off by Minto.

"You know you shouldn't waste perfectly good tea", she stated. Her words may not have been much, but her movements were nothing less than threatening. After fighting since forever against the aliens, she knew how to give off an heinous aura. She advanced slowly, almost regally, and looked down upon them. "At least, you should've taken a sip out of it before tossing it away as garbage." She still had her cup of tea in hand and took one sip for good measure.

The Trio of Doom wouldn't let themselves get intimidated so easily. They were used to be on the other side of it and they wouldn't abandon the upper hand so easily.

"Yeah, and what would a small thing like yourself think could do?", Aya snickered and the others followed suit. "You're in no way frightening. You'll what? Throw your cup of tea at our heads?"

"Oh, I wouldn't have done that if I were you?", Ichigo interjected. "But still you seemed to have a death wish the moment you started coming here to attack Lettuce"

"What, that little nothing?", Satsuki said. "How could you be friends with her?"

"I don't think you three ladies can judge us about whom we make friends with since you don't seem to know how to respect others", Akasaka-san admonished the girls like he would a child.

"And there goes the old man's speech", Aya responded.

The girls were seeing red. Not only the Trio of Doom were attacking Lettuce, but now they insulting another one of their own.

At that point, Lettuce tried to interrupt them, but no one seemed to notice her. Not only was she invisible to them, but she couldn't interact with them nor could she interact with anything in fact. When Minto was advancing, she walked out of the way, but then she went through a table. She wasn't solid. She was like a ghost seeing and hearing everything, but unable to act physically. All she could do now was watching while the customers were starting to flee seeing the argument getting out of hands.

"Don't you dare insult us!", Minto spat flinging her teacup at the nearest table.

"Since you seem so eager to waste food every time you come here, why don't we use that to our advantage?", Ichigo interrupted, letting Minto calm down.

She knew she was acting immaturely, but, at the moment, her only thought was to get rid of those little pests. So she took a piece of cake – '_Strawberry shortcake_', Lettuce noticed – and threw it at the Trio of Doom. It attained Aya directly in the face. The face she made was priceless as much for Lettuce as it was for the others. The rest of Aya's clique hurried to her side to wipe the cake smudged on her face and clothes.

"Aaaaaaaah!", she yelled pushing the girls away. She was having a fit and, secretly, Lettuce was greatly enjoying the show. "You! How could you?!"

"Akasaka-san?", Minto inquired completely ignoring the hysterical girl. "Would you mind if we made a little bit of a mess in the café?", she asked naively.

"As long as you clean it afterwards", he answered, then stepped aside just to keep watch.

"In this case", she said turning towards the Trio of Doom. "I think we shall show you what we're capable of. It should make you think twice about coming back here. Lettuce is our friend and we won't let you mess with her any longer."

Suddenly, a gush of wind picked up and pushed every tables down. The remaining clients got up and flee before they could be pulled into the fight. The Trio of Doom was stuck there being immobilized by the wind. They were now completely afraid and didn't doubt that the Ichigo and Minto would make their life miserable if they didn't leave Lettuce alone.

Then Ichigo started to talk. But her voice was sweet and sugary enthralling the Trio of Doom.

"_You will never come back here ever again and you will leave Lettuce alone. Be prepared to suffer our wrath if we see you three bothering any of our friends._"

"Lettuce?"

Lettuce made a sharp turn toward the voice. She knew who it was, but she couldn't believe it.

'_How did he come here?_', she thought.

Ryou was standing a few feet behind her. He looked as lost as she did when she first arrived _there_ – once again, wherever _there_ was. None of them knew what to do... They were completely lost in each other, when the air around them shifted once again. They were surrounded by a blinding light, and, when they reopened their eyes, they were once again in the bright white corridor.

The three lights at the other side had diminished, they were smaller, but they were still fighting as fiercely. At least, in lettuce's eyes it looked like that. It was as if the energy they were emitting was calling to her. She could feel their battle like it was her own inner one. Then, she understood. It really was her inner battle; her human side, the alien's and the Blue Aqua. She could now feel the power flowing within her, but, at the same time, she felt torn.

Before she could think it any longer, Ryou approached her from behind and encased her in his arms. He hugged her tightly, breathing deeply into her neck.

"Lettuce..."

None of them moved. Even though they had parted ways in worst circumstances, it seemed that now they couldn't remember why. They fit together and, in that moment, everything was perfect. Well, almost, because Lettuce now had all of her memories back. She remembered all of the good things he did for her, but also of the betrayals. So she detached herself and tried not to think about the loss of heat, thus of Ryou.

"Please... I think we need to talk", she said without stuttering. It seemed that her recent finding of her true power had hatched her from her shy persona. Now she was in control of herself and confident in what she was doing. However, it didn't mean that she wanted to do it, because as far as she knew, the conversation she had to have with Ryou was nothing near amusing. However, if they ever wanted to get back as friends – she couldn't let herself think of more, she didn't have such hope – they had to sort everything out. Despite all, Ryou understood what she wanted and stepped away to give her some space to think.

"Just so you know, I'm really sorry for everything, Lettuce", he stated with a pitiful bow of his head. He didn't dare look into her eyes and see rejection. He wanted what was best for her, and of she deemed better not to see him nor talk to him, he would understand and step down.

Still, it wasn't what Lettuce wanted neither. She only searched for the truth and for it to be revealed the two of them needed a real conversation.

"I just want to know, Ryou, why all the lies.", she asked pleadingly.

"I-it was never meant as a lie Lettuce. We just didn't want you to get hurt. _I_ didn't want you to get hurt. So I decided not to reveal you your true nature.", he confessed.

"Then did you see me as something weak that couldn't fight for herself, who wasn't worth fighting at the Mew Mew's side", she said with tears in her eyes now. " – at your side?", she completed.

Ryou couldn't hold it anymore. He had decided to let Lettuce the free reign of her decision, but seeing her so hurt – _because_ _of him _– proved to be too much. He took a step forward and hugged tightly her once again as if it could protect her from anything... _everything_.

"I _promise_ you, I never meant to hurt you, I never would", he whispered in her ear. His words were only murmurs, but it carried so much truth, certainty and _love_. She could hear it, feel it. And she decided, it was time for her to face her fears. The girls truly were her friends – all her repressed memory had came back and she could feel it – and even though it was Ryou's secret that had hurt her the most, she could see he only meant well. The bubbling feeling inside of her only grew, and she had to hide her face in Ryou's chest. She buried her face there, hiding her smile and the blush that was creeping up at the thought of her confession. She finally looked up to face the man of her dreams.

"Ryou – "

"Lettuce – "

They had started had the same time, which made Lettuce laugh and then Ryou. He couldn't believe she was finally back and laughing with him. Seeing her again had only stirred the feeling in his heart and now he couldn't stop looking at her. He had to commit her face to memory, and be sure to never hurt her again. He finally realised in that moment that he _loved_ her and would do anything in order to protect her.

He cradled her head in his hands, brushing his thumbs lightly over her cheekbones and looked her in the eyes. He was searching for any doubt that Lettuce wasn't feeling the same as he did, ready to step if he was to ever make such a discovery. However, he could only see trust, admiration and love – he so desperately hoped so – and started to slowly bend down his head. When their lips finally met, it was soft and moist, and finally happening like an oasis sought for an eternity in a desert. It was right.

Suddenly, the energy lights at the other end of the corridor started to buzz and once again a bright light encased them to bring them back to reality.

XXX

**I know it's not all that clear since I'm writing along and even though I have the bigger lines drawn out, I haven't pinpoint the exact plan for it all. Anyway, just so you know Lettuce feels betrayed because no one told her who they truly were and she had to discover it by herself and get transformed by the aliens to get the whole truth. (That's the big line out) If you have any questions about things that aren't clear enough, just ask and it'll be my pleasure to answer :D**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14 – The In Between

**Okay. I know I'm the worst person ever... I'd advise you not to be too eager to see the end. If what I've done until now is anything to go by, I'd say it's gonna take at least five years to make this :P Joking aside (or not), here's the next part, longer than I usually do, where there should be much drama.**

XXX

When she woke up, Lettuce found herself tangled in Ryou's arms. She stared into blue orbs gazing at her lovingly, and completely forgot where she was. She felt at peace in his arms and couldn't seem to fathom why they were in the park in the first place. All she cared about was the warm feeling their cuddling was bringing her.

"Hey", she offered smiling shyly, not really knowing what to do.

"Hey to you too", he said as softly. "How do you feel", he enquired remembering they had been who knows where and then reappearing in the park on the ground.

"Really good", she smiled brightly.

"Good", he said as happily as she did.

Ryou was still as handsome as she remembered, and now, without the alien's power corrupting her, she could see clearly how much she had truly missed him and the others too. At that, she finally tore her eyes away from Ryou – she couldn't stop herself from saying his name that she had allowed herself this privilege – and searched for the girls. She didn't search for long, since they were all surrounding them; separating them from the aliens. Her heart also warmed at their sight. How could she have doubted those caring so deeply for her for one moment?

But then again, as it should always been, their reunion was short lived, if not inexistent. As soon as the aliens saw her waking up, they approached to ask her what had happened. However, the girls were in no way letting any of them near Lettuce after everything that happened. So in the end, they were thrown back into battle before she could say or do anything to confirm that she was, indeed, finally _back_. The only option left for her was to smile shyly at Ryou, who understood her thoughts, and stand beside the Mew Mews ready to fight.

The two groups were facing each other, none ready to cave in. The tension was thick, but no one moved, no one was ready to take the first step and get back into battle. In the end, the aliens – or should I say Pai – took the first step, and, as usual, taunted the Mew Mews.

"Well, well, well...", he trailed off.

All eyes turned on him, but he didn't say much more. He was fixing Lettuce with a piercing gaze. She was still, not moving from the Mew Mews' side standing in a defensive stance. It seemed she had gone back to her human side, and, even though he was supposed to be a ruthless alien, he was kind of disappointed to see her go. They weren't as near as his brothers and him, but she was a new addition to their own alien team and it had tipped the outcome of their search on their side. She also was _his_ creation, it was thanks to _him_ that she had become who she was.

"What do you want!", yelled Ichigo.

"Lettuce is on our side now!", added Minto.

"And you won't get near her as long as we're here", Zakuro said for good measure.

"Oh! We're so afraid!", Kish mocked in false fear. "What do you think you can do against us?"

"Don't think you can underestimate us!", Pudding retaliated on the defensive.

Lettuce was once again in awe in the length her friends were willing to go for her. They were putting themselves in the front line to protect her. She couldn't believe how blind she had been. Her insecurity had led her to forget and discard the girls' friendship. She was ashamed to have let the alien's to hold such a power over her and to have acknowledge it without a fight. Surely, if she had been stronger, then none of that would've happen.

'_No!'_, she berated herself mentally._ 'I won't wallow in self pity again! I will fight to defend those I love...'_

Her mind now made up, Lettuce held her head up high and took a step forward aligning herself with the orders. They were now forming and impenetrable line against the aliens, each one supporting one another.

"Looks like that little fainting spell brought a change of heart, right Lettuce?", Pai said seeing Lettuce advancing.

"And what if it did?", she responded looking him straight in the eyes. "At least, now, I can see what is truly in front of me"

'_I'm not blinded by my lack of confidence anymore_', she thought to herself.

'_She seems so graceful and fierce_', Ryou mused.

Ryou looked at Lettuce in agreeable surprise. Her stance was decided and unwavering. She was still in her alien attire, but everything about her had taken a softer glow. Her dark marks had more of a blue hue than a black one and her eyes had taken a warm blue color; the ice had melted away. Ryou was also impressed by Lettuce's apparent calm and courage. She was confident in herself, and unafraid to face the alien's. Now that he had revealed – to Lettuce _and_ himself – his sentiments, he was seeing the green haired girl in a new light. She was extremely sweet, but she still could defend herself when needed. She was standing _with_ them ready to attack whomever would try to come between them all. She truly was a Mew Mew now.

"You don't really think you're done with us yet?", Pai threatened.

"We've already beat you many times before.", Ichigo said smugly. "What makes you think we won't do it again?"

"Then, show us what you've got!", Kish provoked the Mew Mews.

"Don't worry, we will", Zakuro replied in a low voice full of venom and doom.

Lettuce was happy to see everyone ready to defend her. However, she was tired of the fighting. She had seen what hatred and vendetta had brought on the aliens and herself. They would fight again and again until one side would kneel, and then... nothing. They would eventually become so focus on their quarrels that they would forget about their primordial quest; helping those in need – at least that was what Lettuce thought the girls did. In any case, Lettuce knew the alien's weren't as bad as they seemed: only desperate to save their people. If only they would all work together, they could bring peace to both parties and in the same time find, she was sure, a great friendship. Sure, her first reaction to the aliens when she first found out that she had been used was anger. However, on second thought, she could understand their reason and thus forgive them. This way, they would be able to began a combined search of the Blue Aqua. Yet, it seemed it wouldn't be possible in the near future.

"You will be so sorry that you haven't yielded in front of our power yet", Kish once again threatened.

"Don't be so confident!", Ichigo responded. "As I said before, we beat you so many times before, we could do it during our sleep."

"Then let's see how you manage against this", Pai smirked. "Wind Ice FAN!", he then attacked.

The Mew Mews were expecting the attack, so they separated themselves into two groups to avoid the small icy tornado. However, it seemed Pai had expected such a turn of event and the cyclone separated itself in two parts each going toward a group. Minto and Zakuro were protecting Akasaka-san while Pudding, Ichigo and Ryou were standing in front of Lettuce. They were fending off the cyclones, but the aliens were playing it dirty and were starting to approach the two groups to attack them while they were distracted. In the end, unsurprisingly, the aliens' sneaky attack didn't go unnoticed. Seeing them advance sneakily, Lettuce freed herself from her peers and took, once again, a step forward.

"STOP!", she yelled. "Everyone, please. Just stop!"

Her desperate cry rang over the small clearance, and all heads turned in her direction in surprise. As Lettuce demanded, they all stopped, however they still held defensive stances, no one trusting the other species. If they went on like that any longer, Lettuce was certain it would all end up badly, for both sides.

"What is it, now!", Pai cried out exasperated. "Really... can't we just fight? You lose. We win – "

"And then what? Each one of us go our merry way and dance in joy until the next time we meet?", Zakuro scoffed full of sarcasm.

"No, it was more along the lines of: we defeat you, and then maybe, if we're feeling compassionate, we could transform you like we did to our dear friend Lettuce.", replied the alien. "However, seeing the newly developed comportment of said Lettuce here, I don't know if it would be as useful as we once thought it was."

"It's not like we would want it anyway!", Ichigo snarled back.

She was furious at the aliens' – more precisely Kish – and fiercely trying to defend Lettuce from them. Even knowing that this heinous streak was directed at him, Kish was completely enthralled by her. The pink Mew Mew was passionate in everything she did, and, through it all, Kish couldn't tear his eyes away from her. Since the first time they had met, she had caught his heart. Now he was just searching for a way to get to her. However, every time they would meet, they would indefinitely end up fighting. But since it was his favourite part of their _relationship_, he was always looking forward to those meetings. So, that is why, he once again couldn't stop himself from answering her.

"Nor would we give it to you!", Kish replied hotly coming face to face with Ichigo to yell his response in her face and maybe discreetly get near to her.

And that started it all again. They all forgot about Lettuce's attempt at peace and were getting at each other's throat. The aliens and the Mew Mews faced each other in defiance. Lettuce looked at them powerless, trying furiously to find a way to stop them again. Even if both groups had accepted her – one during a short period of time – it seemed that her voice wasn't worth listening to anymore. Even though she had promised herself not to wallow in self pity again, she couldn't stop herself from doubting her importance or her self-worth. Her life resumed to nothing if she couldn't even make her supposedly friends understand her point of view. Neither could she proclaim herself as a true Mew Mew, if she also couldn't bring peace between their two groups. She only wanted to find one way for them all to get along and be friends, now that she had become herself once more, she didn't want her new resolutions to go to waste. Still, she was starting – okay, maybe not _starting_, but it all meant the same in the end – to feel desperate as to finding an answer to end the raging war: aliens VS. Mew Mews.

Zakuro noticed Lettuce's despair and misinterpreted it as anguish over the aliens' looming power over her. So she flew into battle in hope of getting rid of the aliens from Earth finally – all with good intentions, obviously. She then took it upon herself to take on the alien's by herself and free everyone from their hold. She broke their defensive front line, marched up right to Pai and conjured up her energy whip – in any case, the only way to kill a snake is by cutting its head off. She threw her whip towards his neck, but he caught it with his hand and pulled the Mew Mew forward. He then proceeded to get _her_ by the neck.

"This kind of looks familiar, don't you think?", Pai mused. "However, it seems I have a different girl between my clutches this time."

He tightened his grip on the purple haired Mew Mew as it was a mere stress ball. He looked defiantly at the others as if daring them to come forward and attack all at once. In any case, Zakuro was used to fighting alone, and against Pai too. So she kicked his shin, made him trip and retreated before he could launch another attack in her direction. Once they regrouped, the girls pushed the guys behind them and advanced on the aliens calling forth their own power. The alien brothers separated themselves to surround the Mew Mews and materialized their weapons, ready to fight off the enemy. Sparks and attacks were flying everywhere. War was raging all around with Mew Mews or aliens being thrown away by a blow. At one point, Ryou, tired of assisting to it all powerless, engaged into battle with the nearest enemy, Pai, who was on the verge of attacking Mew Minto with her back to them. The outcome, as predicted by all, was not in favour to Ryou. He was sent back by one of Pai's wind attack and he fell back on the ground where the back of his head hit a rock.

Seeing such an atrocious scene – in her eyes – Lettuce, yelled out in misery running toward her newly established lover. It hadn't yet been an hour since they had revealed their sentiments and one of them was already hurt and lying unconscious on the ground. She didn't know if she had to take it as a sign about Ryou and hers relationship, but she knew that, in any case, it would be heart wrenching to lose him so soon after having him to herself for such a short period of time.

'_Don't worry yourself out, Lettuce_', she chided herself. '_Ryou is made tough and I'm sure he has seen worst situations before_'

After an eternity – which could be proven to be mere seconds, in fact – Lettuce still didn't see Ryou move or even blink on the ground. He was laying down motionless, and her heart skipped a beat, imagining the worst. She couldn't take the pain anymore; Ryou looked like a corpse, the alien's had used her, her newfound friends were fighting their hardest _because_ of her, no one listened to her, she couldn't even manage to bring peace to the two groups she had become the closest to... She could continue on and on forever, but it became too much for her. Her emotions of anger, sadness, pain and love took over her and the power fighting within herself overpowered her own consciousness.

She cried out in pain, sorrow and hope, when the power reached out from her and started to took form. It first appeared as a small black hole which grew and grew... It was draining everything surrounding it, from trees to breathing people. When they noticed that the battle was getting out of hand, the aliens hurriedly took their leave without saying another word.

"Cowards...", Zakuro muttered under her breath. "Lettuce, stop this!" she then tried to yell over the wind.

Akasaka-san had pulled Ryou out of the way behind the tress and was trying his best to protect him from being sucked up by the hole. In the mean time, the girls were holding to the first thing that came at hand since the wind was growing stronger and stronger. Lettuce seemed unaffected by the black hole's power, but she still didn't seem able to stop it from destroying everything. She tried many times to call forth the power that had made it appear to extinguish the hole, but nothing worked and she was as powerless as she was before when the aliens and the Mew Mews were fighting. When she finally thought she had reached the power to stop – or at least diminish – the black hole, the improbable arrived. The branch on which she was holding on cracked and then broke. She was suddenly finding herself in mid air unable to reach anything to stop her tumbling toward nothingness, and got sucked in the hole. And right at this moment, there could heard many different anguish yells coming from all over the place.

"Ichigo..."

"Ichigo – "

"Ichigo!"

"I-ICHIGO"

"ICHIGO-O...!"

"No, Ichigo!", Kish was the last to yell. He was throwing himself toward the black hole, but his brothers had appeared to stop him.

Seeing everyone's distress, Lettuce succeeded to diminish the black hole wind's power. Nevertheless, it was too late; the unthinkable had happened, and one of them was lost.

XXX

_Truthfully, when his brothers had left the battlefield, Kish was reluctant to follow them. However, seeing everything they had gotten through since their parent's death, he couldn't leave them because he longed for the enemy. But then again, he was never one to follow the rules when needed be. So, in the end he left with his brothers to reappear mere meters away behind some bushes, just out of sight. They had left the Mew Mews with a black hole on their hands and he wanted to keep a close eye on the pink Mew Mew in case something happened. _

_Since the first time they had met, Kish had felt himself being pulled toward the Mew Mew. She was everything he dreamt of: fierce, beautiful, unpredictable, loyal, kind, and so on. Even though he didn't like to say it – but things had to be said at one point – in few words, he was stalking her. After their first battle, he had been mesmerized, and, at the first chance he got, he followed her everywhere – well almost. So, even though they had never talked nor had she shown any kind of interest except battling him – however he knew she secretly loved him – he learnt secretly about her and everything that attracted her, pained her, made her laugh, made her smile, made her yell, and so on._

_He never told his brothers in much details what he was up to when he wasn't with them, but he suspected at least Pai knew as much, but didn't say anything as long as it wasn't interfering with their quest. Sure, he was throwing sharp remarks under his breath from time to time, but nothing that Pai wouldn't normally do; it just showed that he cared, somehow. _

_In the end, when he had seen the girls being drawn to the black hole, he was slightly anxious, but nothing too dramatic since he knew she could easily get by herself. She was strong, and even though some part of him feared for her well-being, he was always amazed at how she could come up on top of any situation. In the end, he didn't want to risk upsetting her, and he left before any of them could find him. He may loved the spark anger caused in his pink pixie, but it didn't mean he wanted it thrown in his direction. He disappeared quietly into the night not knowing what would soon unravel._

XXX

The girls were all huddled together, supporting one another through their grief. Once Ichigo had been sucked into the black they had been stuck in an impasse. They couldn't fight against the black whole since it had already gotten Ichigo _who knows where_, and they didn't even know if the pink Mew Mew was still alive. However, no one voiced that thought aloud not wanting to acknowledge it as a possibility. They knew they had to do something and fast, but they couldn't fathom what. However, the sun was soon to arise and even though people didn't usually wander in the area, they didn't want to risk innocents being trapped in a black hole along with Ichigo.

Lettuce had tried to reach out for something, anything; may it be a life form into the guzzling whirlwind or power to conjure _something_. She felt completely helpless and hopeless. Ryou was laying on the ground, still breathing, but unmoving. Akasaka-san was tending to him while the girls tried to think of some way to help Ichigo. Lettuce couldn't let herself be distracted from the task at hand, but she deeply desired for Ryou to wake up, help them and just be _alright_. For the moment, everything had gotten out of hand and they were useless to solve anything.

Pudding noticed Lettuce's misery etched on her face; it was present on all of them. She was thrilled when she had first realized that Lettuce had returned to normal, but then everything had gone downhill afterwards. Pudding's cheeriness was then replaced by a solemn and grave air she usually wore when the situation deemed it. She was torn between cheering for Lettuce's return and grief for Ichigo's disappearance and maybe even worse. In the end, her childish innocence took over and she held her head up high, conviction reflecting in her eyes.

"We HAVE to do something!", she said, only slight desperation pouring through her battle cry. "I KNOW we can do something!", she tried to convey all the hope she felt – she _should_ feel.

"Oh, little one...", Zakuro said fondly patting Pudding on the head. "I know how you feel, we all do. But I don't think there is an easy answer to this problem."

Zakuro shook her head. She didn't want to dash everyone's hope, but she couldn't let them delusion themselves either. She truly wished for an answer to all their prayers, however it seemed as though there was no more options left. They would have to close the black hole and return to their fight against the aliens – to stop them once and for all. She had been alone for so long and now, after finding a family, she was going to lose it again so soon. Ultimately, she hung her head low ready to face whatever would come this way, she maybe had lost hope, but whatever the others would want to do, she would still partake in their plan.

Minto couldn't believe her ears, nor her eyes in fact. It looked as if everyone had gave up. They were _the_ _Mew Mews_,not some ordinary peasants running around in short skirts. If someone had the power to save their friend and the world from cupid aliens, it was them! Ichigo may unnerve her to the point of wanting to strangle her from time to time, but it didn't mean she wanted a gurgling whirlwind to do it. Without Ichigo, they weren't the Mew Mews anymore and if they abandoned now, Minto knew they would never continue to fight without her. Even if they did, it would be out of spite and it would lead to nothing except their own destruction.

"Held your head up high and fight!", Minto yelled when she just couldn't take any more of their pitiful sight. "Ichigo is not dead until _I_ say so. Now we have to get her out of there.", she said pointing to the windy round hole.

"Please, Minto...", Zakuro pleaded.

"NO!", Minto countered. "We cannot stay put and do nothing – "

"What do you think we have done up until now?", Lettuce cried out. "I wish as strong as you do that Ichigo was here with us!"

"Lettuce", Pudding interrupted sadly

" If only _I_ didn't let myself be fooled by the aliens,", she continued completely ignoring the younger Mew Mew.

"Lettuce!", Minto tried in turn to stop the green Mew Mew. She was feeling guilty since she was the one who had pushed her over her breaking point.

"Or if _I_ didn't get overpowered by them,", she almost broke down. However, she had started to beat herself up and nothing could stop her. "Or if _I_ hadn't called this..." At this point, Lettuce was overtly crying may it be of sadness, hopelessness or anger. Everyone else was feeling her hurt, but no one could do anything to stop her.

"... _this_ –", she spat out.

_SLAP!_

In the end, Lettuce couldn't finish her sentence. Having had enough of her rant, Zakuro had taken things into her own hands – literally. Lettuce was drowning into self-pity and bringing the others with her. And even though Zakuro had no more ideas on what to do, she still wasn't ready to just lay down and wait for the inevitable. She had thought the girls had more ideas or plans, but it seemed they were all stuck at the same point.

"Lettuce, little one. We all understand how you're feeling, but we're not accusing you for every little thing that happened up until now.", she comforted. "We may be in a dire situation, however everything will be alright in the end because we are all together. So please, stop blaming yourself so much"

"She is right, you know?", Pudding added. "Ichigo would think and say the same too. I'm sure of it"

"Yeah, they have a point.", Minto whispered. "It's not because of you that we are here. It's _thanks_ to you", she said with conviction. "And I'm sorry for making you believe otherwise. Without you, we wouldn't have a reason to fight for, and we wouldn't be the family we are now."

Lettuce looked at them all. She could see the trust they had put in her, but she still had difficulty to face everything that had happened and couldn't stop the feeling of responsibility and guilt that was overwhelming her.

"They are completely right and you should entirely believe them, or me at least"

Lettuce made a sharp 360. She couldn't believe her ears, Ryou was awake. However, when she finally looked upon him, Ryou was gazing at nothing. Despite the grin adorning his face, she couldn't stop herself from tumbling forward in worry. She wanted to feel him near feeling that something was wrong. When he turned his head in her direction after sensing her movement, she could decipher no recognition in his gaze. It was as if he was blind.

XXX

_When Ryou had first woken up, he could only hear voices in the background. He felt dizzy and feared that if he opened his eyes, he would blackout once again. He then took time to regain his senses thinking of all that had happened until now. He couldn't completely grasp the fact that he had finally gotten everything he wished for. Not only was Lettuce _his_ now, but she was coming back. They would return to café Mew Mew all together as before. She would smile happily at him again, and would probably blush also when he would stare at her for too long, just taking in her beauty. She would act shy and regretful at first – there was no doubt about it – but then she would bloom with his and the Mew Mew's help. He was eager to get to this future he imagined, ready to make it become reality. _

_Taking a deep breath and feeling ready to face whatever had happened during his blackout, Ryou opened his eyes. At least, he thought he did. He could feel all his limbs, nothing was missing. However, when he put his hand in front of his face he couldn't see it. He approached it to his without it touching, but still near enough to feel its heat radiating. He rubbed on his eyes, blinked furiously, shook his head to the point of dizziness, but nothing would work. Whatever he did, he was still unseeing; he was blind. He was frantically rubbing his eyes, when a calm hand stopped him. At first, he thought it was one of the aliens who had found him, but then he smelled Keiichiro's scent of vanilla and pastries and sagged under the comfort of knowing he wasn't alone. _

_Keiichiro had had the task of looking after Ryou who wasn't in shape to fight. In fact, he wasn't in shape to do anything, he was totally out. He tried to lay him down the most comfortably possible. At least, the best he could do on hard ground. Ryou had no evident, overtly gaping and bloody injuries, so Keiichiro waited for the blond one to wake up. After a while, when nothing changed, he strayed his attention on the Mew Mews who seemed as lost as he was on what to do. However, it looked like they were soon ready to take it out on each other. When he was on the verge of getting up to stop them all from murdering each other, he heard movements beside him. He had been so worried about the girls' behaviour and the outcome of all that had happened, that he had forgotten about Ryou. When his attention was finally back on Ryou, he knew instantly something was wrong. Not only was Ryou rubbing at his eyes desperately, but he was also very silent. Keiichiro had learned that whenever Ryou was silent it usually was his way of trying to cope by himself. Not that Ryou was too proud to ask for help, but that he didn't want to bother anyone whit his problems. He had gotten used to depend only on himself or at least few people. In the end, Keiichiro tried to ease his fear, frustration, desperation or whatever he was feeling just by letting him know next to him. He knew he wasn't necessarily the one Ryou would want the most right if the looks he and Lettuce exchanged were any indication. Still, he had looked over Ryou since who knows when and he was glad that he had found happiness. _

"_Keiichiro", Ryou choked up. _

'Well it looks like happiness is not for now..."_, Keiichiro thought._

"_It's alright, Ryou", the older man said soothingly. "I'm right here, and the aliens are gone."_

"_No, you don't understand!", he yelled in a whisper. "I can't see..."_

_When Ryou finally moved his hand out of his face, it dawned on Keiichiro. It wasn't just a turn of phrase used to express himself, but the reality. Ryou was looking up without really looking. His eyes couldn't acknowledge anything that was happening around him. He was most definitely blind. Whatever hardships may come Ryou's way because of his condition, Keiichiro knew they would be ,any to help him and that nothing would stop the younger man from doing what he wanted to. So he took a deep breath, put a smile on – even though Ryou couldn't see it – and took it upon himself to relate the latest events that had occurred. Keiichiro wasn't sure if he was being listened to, but it got both of their minds off things and that's what they needed for now. However, half into his reenactment of events, the girls' shouts got louder. So he dropped his story when he clearly saw Ryou's deep in thoughts from Lettuce's voice._

_Ryou was glad for Keiichiro's story of the past events. However, the old man seemed to think that he had to act as if on egg shells around him, and that prevented him from relating all the facts however hard they may be to accept. It was only thanks to the girls' shouts in the background that the importance of the situation dawned on him. He may have become blind, but it didn't mean he had to be sheltered. Even though Keiichiro obviously had the best intentions at heart, he had responsibilities to face. It was because of him that the girls had suddenly found themselves obligated to fight an intergalactic war. If it wasn't for him none of that would've happened and so dearly wished that Lettuce wouldn't accuse herself of all that had happened in his place. In the end, even though he wasn't in a state to do much – or anything – he still wasn't letting Lettuce wallow again in self pity. So, he step up and made himself heard._

XXX

Lettuce spent a long time just staring at Ryou. Even though Ryou hadn't said anything, she could see from Akasaka-san's face and the acknowledgement she was still waiting for from his eyes were enough of an answer. He couldn't see and that was because of her.

"Lettuce!", Ryou said almost sounding reprimanding. "_This_ is not your fault. It should be me you blame. However, we don't have time to find a culprit, because we have to get Ichigo back some way."

"Listen to Ryou, little one. We don't blame you, we are as lost as you.", Zakuro added.

"See Lettuce. We really are happy to have you with us.", Pudding pitched it.

"And I never meant to upset you.", excused herself. "I'm desperate as we all are to find a solution, and I know it's no reason to lose my temper –"

"Don't worry about that anymore", Lettuce interrupted her. "I lost my temper as much as you did. But everyone... I-I don't know what we could d-do", she slightly stuttered.

"At least we're all in this together", Ryou reassured.

"It would be much simpler if we could go into the black hole", Akasaka-san sighed.

That's when it hit Lettuce. If they couldn't bring Ichigo out of the black hole, they would have to get to her. However, when she made up her mind, she knew it would be too dangerous to bring anyone else with her. But, no matter what, she had to do it.

"I think I've got the solution.", Lettuce said trying to hide her excitement. She didn't want to give away anything and risk being stopped before she had done anything. "But you'll have to step back", she warned.

"Lettuce...", Ryou said still sitting on the ground. "Whatever you're thinking, I'm against it."

He wasn't against any plan she had formed per se, but having found a plan so suddenly and not giving away any details of it _was_ suspicious. He wanted to make his point get across so he tried to get up. However, aside from the blindness, he still had received a blow to the head and was still feeling weak. In the end, he stumbled and looked more like a fool than anything else. Soon enough though, he forgot his sentiment of shame when he felt a smaller frame trying to support him. He knew without a doubt that it was Lettuce coming to his rescue. From the fresh scent of the sea, the softness of her skin and glowing warmth she was releasing, it was easy to distinguish her from anyone else. He was thankful, but he still wanted to dissuade her from carrying out whatever she had thought of.

"Lettuce, please. Surely we can find another way instead of your self-harming plan I'm sure you found.", Ryou pleaded.

"Ryou", she said blushing not used enough to calling him by his name. "We don't have the time, and my plan is good as anything else.", she countered defensively.

"It's not that I want to discredit you...", he tried to plead. "I just don't want to put you in danger"

"But, you don't even know what my plan is...", she murmured.

"It's not that hard to guess, Lettuce.", he chuckled. "From your reaction after Keiichiro's interjection on the problem, you clearly want to go in to get to Ichigo", he added more sombre.

"What? How –", Lettuce said bemused.

"I'm not a genius for nothing, you know?", he remarked offhandedly trying to lighten the mood.

Lettuce smiled fondly at his antics; trying to deflect from the problem and win time in order to make her change her mind or find an idea wasn't going to work. They had pondered long enough on the problem without finding a solution and now that they had one, they had to act quickly. They didn't how Ichigo had coped on her side of the black hole or if she was injured, or worse... So she took a deep breath, and huddled closer to Ryou and put her head on his shoulder to let him know she was there and would come back; no matter what.

"Don't worry about me, Ryou", she said confidently. "I know what I'm doing. I conjured the black hole so I know how to control it now", she murmured the last word. She wasn't able to lie to him, but it didn't she would gladly give him more reasons to stop her. "And", she added hastily. "I'm half alien now, or so it seems. If there's one thing we learned from the aliens is that we haven't been able to defeat them.", she smiled.

"Yet", he muttered under his breath.

Ryou may be stubborn, but he also knew when to back down and admit they had no other choice. Moreover, he couldn't see her smile, but he could feel her lips stretch on his skin and it felt as much as a promise for him than words. She would stay safe and come back to him. To ensure her return, he took her chin in his right hand, leaving the other on her hip, and dipped his head.

They may have kissed only once before, but they were already in sync. When Ryou stopped halfway uncertain of what to do because of his blindness, Lettuce closed the small gap separating them and kissed him. It was only their second kiss, but it felt as complete and perfect as the first and all of those that would surely follow.

It was Lettuce who broke away first, fearing she wouldn't be able to continue with her plan if they had gone on. With one last peck on Ryou's lips, she disentangled herself and advanced toward the ominous black hole. She cast one last look at others who didn't stop her as Ryou did, but who had followed their discussion. They understood she had to do it, but like the blond man, they were fearing for her safety and asking her to come back as soon as possible.

Finally, she concentrated her power on enlarging the black hole, but still diminishing its power. When everything seemed under control, she cast one last look at the others, and with a little wave of her hand she stepped into the unknown.

XXX

Ryou had wanted to throw himself forward and stop Lettuce before it was too late, but he only clutched his fists instead. He knew that Lettuce's actions were as much for her as it was for Ichigo. She wanted to save the pink haired girl, but also prove herself her worth; that she wasn't a burden to the Mew Mews. He stood beside the others, resolutely looking in front of himself, at nothing, trying to imagine Lettuce's face; her determined eyes, her bright smile trying to hide a quivering lip of incertitude.

Keiichiro was impressed by Lettuce's courage and determination. To go into the black hole without help or knowing what would happen could be seen as reckless, but he knew the green haired girl personality and it was all done out of selflessness – he was sure of it. He worried a little bit of the outcome and how it would influence Ryou, since he was clearly so attached to the girl already. However, it didn't that important when he felt a little hand slip into his. He looked to his right and saw Minto trying not to acknowledge it was her hand in his. He smiled fondly at her and gripped it slightly as if trying to tell her everything would be okay and that there was nothing to worry about.

Minto didn't know what had taken upon her to take Keiichiro-san's hand, but she had needed comfort and it seemed a good idea at the time. At first, she had had second thoughts, but then he had squeezed her hand and she couldn't remember why. Right now, so many emotions were swirling in her head, and she didn't know what to do with them. Sadly, she also knew it wasn't the time to tackle those questions. Anyway, she didn't have to worry about them just yet. After all, she had all the time in the world to sort out her emotions later on.

Zakuro didn't have much more hope than earlier. She was even more gloomier, since they now had two friends in possible danger instead of one. On one hand, it was best that way, but on the other it turned out even more concerning. But it was those moments that let her feel part of something, a family; something she had longed for all her life. She was still enraged against the aliens for having led Lettuce in such a situation and for leaving so hurriedly like cowards. Nonetheless, _when_ the girls would reappear, she would get all the time in her life to get sweet revenge on them.

Pudding had difficulty to contain herself. She wanted to jump all over the place and just _do_ something instead of waiting for something to happen. She would've liked to jump in with Lettuce and saved Ichigo, but when she had made a move to come forward, Zakuro had put an hand on her shoulder to stop her. When Pudding had looked at the older girl, she was shaking her head slightly to tell her they weren't to meddle. Since she couldn't help Lettuce directly, she stayed silent and prayed for her shy friend to overcome whatever would come her way and come back to them.

Suddenly the black hole surged and it started once again to draw them in. They were all holding to each other in fear of being sucked into it also. But then, it stopped and a form appeared out of it. The wind had brought wind, leaves and dust into everyone's eyes, so they couldn't distinguish anything just yet. However, as soon as it was clear for everyone – almost everyone – to see, the girls ran forward, leaving Keiichiro and Ryou behind. They were completely overwhelmed and screaming all over the place. Pudding threw herself on her, Minto joined into the hug and Zakuro put a comforting hand on Ichigo's head; the only body part visible under the other girls' mark of affection.

Ichigo was back! She was the same as before she disappeared if not a little bit exhausted, but it looked as if she hadn't left, completely unharmed. She was a little dazed by the energetic welcome she was the lucky recipient of. They couldn't stop themselves from asking a plethora of questions: How was she? What did happen in there? How did she come back? ...

Unsurprisingly, their joy didn't last long. A strong voice resonated throughout the woods with only one word, one name, a prayer: ominous, broken, but still hopeful.

"Lettuce?"

XXX

**In another situation I would write "Don't be afraid to review", but as I am the one afraid of them, I won't... Anyway, I'm writing the follow up, but even though it may writes itself easily, I fear there is still yet a long way to go. So thank you for still keeping up with even though you might be restless or you even forgotten about this story. **

**And as I know that the length may not be worth the wait, I wouldn't mind if you waited until the "complete" button was pushed to continue your reading, criticising , commenting or whatever.**

**Truly yours,**

**Ct-Zen**


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